Making the Gravy

Yesterday was another day with tomatoes. This time it was the romas, that I left ripening all week on the nearly-dead vines. I made a big pot of tomato sauce yesterday and what I loved most was the ingredients. From my garden, tomatoes, carrot, oregano. From the farmer's market, garlic and onion, and from the grocery store some crushed fresh basil, salt and pepper, and olive oil...

After running the tomatoes through the food mill, which I love (no need to remove skins and seeds by hand, just blanch them and run them through the mill), and sauteeing the garlic and onion, I simmered the rest of the ingredients for about two hours until it was very, very thick and flavorful. It boils down, so in the end I got two quarts of first-class tomato sauce from a bucket of tomatoes. But with the way they keep coming, I'll get a couple quarts to freeze as well as use this fall.