I’m trying to use up all of my fresh tomatoes, but I’m burned out on garden salads and gazpacho, which can only be eaten fresh, and now I’m on a mission find recipes that preserve the harvest when frozen. We usually associate tomato sauces with Italian cooking, but there are many Mexican recipes that can use a spiced up tomato sauce base, so use it in any recipe calling for canned tomatoes. And yes, you can use the sauce to coat any pasta you like.
To spice it up, you can add a variety of MexGrocer products, including hot sauces and pastes, and canned chiles, or powders. They can be added to taste before freezing, which is what I recommend. Capsaicin, the active heat ingredient in chile peppers, is not diminished by freezing or cooking.
Homemade Mexican Tomato Sauce
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To easily remove the skins of fresh tomatoes, blanch them for ten seconds in boiling water, then cool them. Use a paring knife to separate the skins from the flesh. Some sources say that you should strain the tomatoes to remove the seeds, but I don’t think that’s necessary.
2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pounds fresh tomatoes, skins removed and chopped
4 hot fresh red chiles, such as jalapeños, or 2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion in olive oil over low heat for about five minutes. Add the garlic, basil, and Mexican oregano and cook on low heat for 5 minutes or so. Add the wine and cook until it’s reduced by half.
Add the tomatoes, sugar, and salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point you can keep the sauce chunky or blend it until smooth. Allow the sauce to cool, place it in plastic containers, and freeze.
Yield: About 4 cups
Heat Scale: Varies
For more spicy recipes, click the image above!