Tomato Sauce-with a Kick!

This time of year tomatoes are plentiful! We spent all weekend long at our favorite Northwest hideaway roasting and canning tomatoe sauce. We use lots of fresh herbs and garlic and add our specialized homegrown hot peppers. You can easily adjust the spice level to suit your palette. We love the depth of flavor adding smoke to the grill. Time to play! Enjoy

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 quarts

Spicy Tomato Sauce Ingredients

• 16 medium sized tomatoes or 12 large- Quarter and core

• 1 onion chopped

• 2 carrots chopped

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 3 stalks of celery chopped

• 2 TBS plus 1/2 c olive oil

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp ground pepper

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper or 2 fresh cayenne pepper or any pepper of choice

• 4 sprigs of thyme c thyme

• 1/4 oregano

• 1/4 cup loosely packed Italian parsley

• 1/4 c loosely packed basil

• Small jalapeño chopped(seeds removed if you want it less spicy)

Heat the oven or grill to 425 degrees. If using a grill and like the smokey taste of hickory chips, place a handful of wood chips in a foil and add a sprinkling of water. Place on the grill while bringing the grill temp to 425 degrees. Chop the carrots, onion, and celery. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and sautée the mixture with 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetable mixture is soft. Set aside. Add herbs, peppers, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper to the tomatoes and toss.  Place on a foil lined sheet pan or grill pan and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.  Let cool .  Place the grilled tomato mixture and vegetable mixture in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the desired texture.  Avoid over blending.