Is your garden overflowing with tomatoes? Mine is. It’s a jungle out there. The zucchini plant is on the offensive, overtly attacking its neighbors in a battle for square footage while the tomatoes surreptitiously creep and cling to everything they can. At this point, they are huge sprawling bushes, heavy with fruit.
The boys go out to jump on the trampoline and come inside bearing gifts, their little hands laden. I too venture out to pluck tomatoes off the bushes before they turn to mush or fall to the ground. I’m not complaining. They’re delicious. Some are good eaten straight up. Others go nicely on top of a green salad. With so many tomatoes there really needs to be so many ways to eat them.
In an attempt to create much needed variety, this afternoon I made a raw tomato sauce to serve over pasta. Well, I can tell you it was one of those small, satisfying successes. Our neighbors Chris and Larry (Josh’s parents) came over for dinner and ate the sauce uncomplainingly. The children all asked for seconds after it was gone so I ran out to the garden, harvested more tomatoes, some basil and whipped up another batch in the middle of dinner. My younger son drank his seconds as soup and Josh’s little sis, Zoe used hers as a dipping sauce for her green beans.
So, as you see, this raw tomato sauce is very versatile and provides a good deviation from the standard forms of tomato consumption.
Raw Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 medium tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ cup basil leaves
Instructions
- Place 7 of the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt and basil in a vitamix
- Puree on high speed until creamy
- Chop the remaining tomato and add to the sauce
- Serve
Equipment
This quick and easy dish can turn mountains of tomatoes into a yummy raw sauce without heating up your kitchen in the middle of August.
Are you enjoying your garden this month? If you find yourself with an abundance of tomatoes, what are doing with them? Let us know and please, share your recipes in the comments section!
elana says
Courtney,
That meal sounds absolutely amazing!
Hope you are well.
Elana
Courtney says
I was shopping at the Farmers Market this past weekend and a gentleman was sampling his homegrown, Tennessee striped tomatoes. This tomato was a brilliant yellow color with red marbling, very large with a rich, sweet flavor. The first thing I thought of was the picture in this recipe. I grabbed some fresh basil and I knew where the evening was headed…Papadini Pasta, Grass-Fed ground sirloin, home-made raw tomato sauce, garden fresh veggies… what a soul satisfying meal. Thanks Elana!
elana says
Claire -We have a bunch of sour plums on our dwarf plum tree and I am thinking of making some jam out of them if I can get around to it!
Teresa -Thanks for your comment. I’ve not experimented with freezing the sauce; if you do so, please stop back over and let us know how it turned out.
Maggie -The Vita-mix is definitely my blender of choice. Thanks!
Maggie says
This looks so creamy and delicious! I’m in the market for a new blender and have heard good things elsewhere about the Vita-mix.
Teresa says
My Garden is overflowing with tomatoes, I will give this easy recipe a try, can I freeze the sauce
Claire Walter says
I only wish my garden were overflowing with tomatoes. The deer got most of them. We have eaten one — but it was delicious. There are some more babies on our one surviving tomato plant that I hope ripen before the deer and and/or snow hits the garden.
We do have an abundance of plums this summer. I’m picking the low ones and leaving the high ones for the squirrels.
Claire @ http://culinary-colorado.blogspot.com
elana says
Alisa – You are welcome.
Amy – I used some orange and yellow tomatoes (in addition to red) that are a slightly different variety than red ones, they are a light color even when they are fully ripened, that’s why my sauce is “orangy.” Also, the vita-mix gives just about everything a super smooth and creamy texture.
Rachel -You are welcome; I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Rachel says
Looks and sounds scrumptious! Can’t wait to give it a try later this evening – yep, we’ll be having some for dinner! :-) What a great way to use the tomatoes our parents just brought from their garden – thanks! ;-)
Amy says
This looks and sounds so good! One question though, is it just from the blending that makes it look so white and creamy? It looks amazingly like a creamy tomato sauce :)
Alisa says
This ingredient list looks just like the sauce I made for dinner the other night, only mine was cooked! I will have to give the raw version a try. Thanks for the idea.