I have some declicious small tomatoes in my garden and want to make a fresh tomato sauce. I have found several recipes that call for larger tomatoes or that require peeling them. I would like to use them with the skins. Anyone done that? Got a good recipe? Thanks!
You can't really make a sauce without peeling the tomatoes, so you need the bigger ones with lots of meat and few seeds, like Roma. However, you can certainly cook with the little ones. Here is my favorite recipe for grape or cherry tomatoes, or larger tomatoes that are cut up. It's fresh and delicious. I don't care for olives so I omit those:
http://www.marthastewart.com/341000/tomato-and-olive-penne
Hope that helps!
If you blanch them the skins fall right off. Simply drop them in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds, take out, and slide the skins off. Then cut off the stems/cores and squeeze out the seeds... and you can use them like larger tomatoes for sauce. I did this with 28 pounds of tomatoes the other day and it took maybe 10 minutes total.
I'm with the previous poster - you really can't make sauce with the skins on. They don't break down correctly and you have skin bits in the finished product.
I saw a Rachel Ray over the weekend where she used the small cherry tomatoes with the skins and all. It was quick and looked great. I can't remember the name of the dish or the show. But I am sure you could find it on Food Network. It is her new show where she makes a full week of meals in one day. I enjoyed it. She ALWAYS makes everything look easy. I love the trick she uses to cut the mini tomatoes. She get two lids to round containers like sour cream, fills one side with tomatoes puts the other lid on top the from the side you run the knife through the middle of the tomatoes, so you can cut up like 10 at a time!!
Good luck!!
D.
If you have a food mill, just cook them for 5-10 minutes and put them through the mill. This removes much of the skin and many seeds. And it's soooo easy.
Food mills also make the best (absolute best!) mashed potatoes.
Make a roasted sauce:
put all of your tomatoes, some garlic, herbs (basil/oregano) and some olive oil into a baking dish and bake in the oven until they are nice and roasted.
Then strain through a sieve into a pot. Put in a low flame, season with salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer until thickened to your desired consistency.
I fill our homemade sauce in containers and freeze it for easy meals.
We never peel our tomatoes when making sauce and we've used small tomatoes as well as large. As long as the tomatoes have a lot of flavor, it shouldn't matter. Here's a quick receipe for a basic tomatoe sauce:
2 cloves garlic
olive oil (we normally use around 3 table spoons)
4 large tomatoes (or an equal portion of small ones- I would cut these in half if they are cherry tomatoes)
fresh basil (to taste-- but we normally use approx. 1/4-1/2 cup)
capers (optional)
salt & pepper (to taste)
Saute garlic in olive oil. Toss in the tomatoes and capers and saute until the tomatoes start to fall apart. Toss in the basil and salt & pepper to taste. This should make enough sauce for 1lb. of pasta. We also like to sprinke mozz. or parmesean on top when serving.
