Summer Bounty Sauce
Summer Bounty Sauce
The best way to eat local in the winter is to preserve summer's bounty. An easy and delicious way to do this is to make a summer bounty sauce for use with pasta dishes or as a base for winter soups such as minnestrone, African Peanut Soup, or tortilla soup.
The list below is just gives you an idea of what can end up in a Summer Bounty Sauce - except for the tomatoes there are no "required" ingredients. I usually make a big pot of this and ladle it into quart jars for freezing. Leave about an inch of space at the top of the jar!
Cut up any amount of any of the following. Put the tomatoes in first and let them start to simmer while you process the other vegetables
Heirloom tomatoes - any kind, though Orange Banana tomatoes make one of the best sauces to be found on this planet.
Onions - may be sauteed if you prefer
Garlic - may be sauteed if you prefer
Peppers - sweet and/or hot - you may want to remove the seeds but this isn't necessary
Eggplant
Zucchini and/or summer squash
Green beans
Tomatillos
Carrots
Once all the vegetables are tender and some of the liquid has boiled down then simply ladle the sauce into quart jars. After cooling the jars in the fridge pop them into the freezer. Store the sauce chunky and you can puree it later if you decide you want a smooth sauce for pasta. The chunky sauce works best for soups.
