Two Ingredient Winter Tomato Sauce

I wish you could smell this picture. Just looking at it makes my mouth water in anticipation of its rich tomato flavor. It's my husband's quick, two ingredient winter tomato sauce. With a few tablespoons of olive oil and some frozen Roma tomatoes, he makes the most delicious fragrant sauce which we use on everything from grilled meats and scrambled eggs to pastas and pizzas. Or, one of my favorites, we pour some of the hot tomato sauce over a log of local goat cheese and serve it with some crusty bread for a delicious appetizer or light meal. His simple recipe couldn't be easier and, lucky for us, he's sharing it!

Each summer we freeze Roma tomatoes from our garden in quart size freezer bags. To prepare them for freezing, we gently wash them in warm water, dry them with a lint free cotton kitchen towel, and place them into the bags--skins on, no peeling or other processing. When my husband wants to make the sauce, he washes the frozen tomatoes under a stream of warm tap water which loosens the peels so they slip right off. Then he chops the peeled frozen tomatoes into one inch pieces with a heavy cleaver and puts the icy tomato chunks into a deep sauce pan with a heavy bottom and adds some olive oil. He uses 16 Romas and 3 tablespoons of extra virgin, first cold press olive oil. No salt, no pepper, nothing but tomatoes and the olive oil. He places the pan on medium heat over a flame tamer to prevent burning the sauce, brings it up to a simmer, and cooks the sauce, stirring it occasionally, for 30 minutes or until it gets to the thickness that he wants. That's it. Sauce is ready! If you like, you can add a bit of salt to taste.

The 16 Romas will reduce to about 2 cups of sauce and your kitchen will smell like an Italian Grandma spent the afternoon standing at your stove making her special secret recipe sugo just for you!