I learned a lot about cooking from my Italian Grandmother.  She was a great cook. Unfortunately, she was also the messiest cook I’ve ever known.  I think she used every single cooking item in her entire kitchen everytime she cooked.  I believe this because she regularly left the cleanup to those of us who enjoyed her meal.  

Grandma was tiny like me, and I wish I had a digital photo of her to share with you.  But she passed away long before I ever had a digital camera. She reminds me of Strega Nona if you’ve ever read that book.

My Grandmother never measured anything when she cooked.  If you called her up to ask her for a recipe, you never knew what you were going to get.  It was not uncommon for her to tell me, “Take some meat, brown it.  Add your spices and cook it for 8 hours.”  Of course, there were a lot more steps to it than that (and who knew what spices she wanted, although basil and oregano were always a safe bet).

So the best way to learn from her was to watch her and help (and maybe even clean up after her as you went along).

Like all good Italians, my grandmother had a garden.  And that garden had massive amounts of tomatoes growing in it.  Homemade tomato sauce was a laborious (and obviously messy) process for her.  It looked something like this:

• Pick tomatoes
• Wash tomatoes
• Cut out bad spots
• Drop into boiling water for a minute or two
• Remove skins
• Cut in half and remove seeds
• Run through a foley food mill
• Season tomato sauce
• Cook sauce for the remainder of the day, stirring and checking on it often

Her tomato sauce was amazing.  But I simply don’t have timet for all those steps.  So I take a shortcut.  Actually Greyden takes the shortcut because he is the one who usually makes our tomato sauce.

First he picks the tomatoes (or has Emery do it).

Once the tomatoes are inside, Greyden washes them off and cuts out any bad spots.

The he blends the tomatoes in our blendtec blender* (a vitamix blender* works as well).  However a cheaper blender will do a terrible job and leave all the seeds.

Once the tomatoes are blended, just pour them into an electric roaster oven.

Once Greyden has the tomatoes in the roaster,  we add some seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, parsley).  I season it more when it is done cooking.  You don’t want to overseason it now. 

You can also make tomato sauce over several days.  Just keep adding tomatoes and cook it all together on low.

Vent the roaster lid a little bit so the liquid can evaporate.  I cook it anywhere from 200 – 300 degrees depending on whether I’m leaving it overnight or want it done for dinner.  Stir it periodically and check on it.  When it’s all done, I adjust the seasonings as needed.

Admittedly, my grandmother’s tasted a bit better.  But mine is just as healthy, better fits my busy schedule, and beats store bought tomato sauce!

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