You say tomato and I say tomato......

Yeah!!!! After not one frickin' tomato last summer, we are now inundated! 

Anyone have a good recipe for spaghetti sauce?

I have a good recipe for tomato soup, which Mr. Downeastdoingstuff (pictured above) has, for some reason, taken on as his specialty. He has one other specialty...... Zucchini bread. 

I told him, "if you could follow directions for cooking/baking these two delish items, you can basically cook anything."

"Heck", I told him, " you cook everything from now on and I will select 2 things that will be my specialty!"

He said, "No."

I said, "Yea, you can."

He still said, "Nope."

So that's it. I'll gladly munch on his two specialties.

Tomato Soup

(I'm pretty sure this recipe came from a prehistoric edition of Bon Appetit.)

~3 Tbsp vegetable oil

~1 medium onion, finely chopped

~2 lbs. ripe tomatoes, (unpeeled), sliced

~1 Tbsp tomato paste

~1 bay leaf

~1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic

~2 tsp cornstarch

~3 C chicken stock. (He uses 2 cans of College Inn lower sodium chicken broth.)

~black pepper (recipe says freshly ground, but then, all recipes seem to say that.)

~herb salt. (or whatever)

~1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded and cut julienne. (He doesn't usually do this.)

~1 Tbsp fine chopped fresh parsley (He uses dry parsley.)

~1 Tbsp fine chopped chives

~1 tsp honey

-Heat 3 tbsp OIL in a 4 Qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add ONION and cook til translucent.

(most of my kids in school don't know the meaning of this word.) Add all the sliced TOMATO and cook 3 minutes. Stir in TOMATO PASTE, BAY LEAF, and GARLIC.  Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring often.

-Transfer mixture to food processor and puree. Return puree to saucepan. Combine CORNSTARCH and 1 tbsp OIL in a small bowl. Stir into puree. Add STOCK and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Season with PEPPER and HERB SALT. Stir in julienne TOMATO, PARSLEY, CHIVES and HONEY.

(Mr. DEDS always DOUBLES this recipe because, to be frank, it makes a piss poor amount otherwise, IMO.)

*******You know what? I know he uses a food mill somewhere in this recipe because I always have to wash one. Maybe after the food processor? Maybe to get out the skins and seeds? Who knows? So. use one somewhere......

I always make RICE and mix it in just before serving. Serve with some crusty bread and it's a great meal.

Enjoy.