Sweet Tomato Basil Sauce

Today I have decided to embark on part one of a two part dinner experience.  On Thursday, I am planning to make Italian Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts... which are something like a stuffed Chicken Parmesan.  However, to do that, I need a tomato sauce to start with.  I would normally use a standard marinara for it, but this time I have an open bottle of riesling left over from last week's lentil soup so I thought, what would happen if I used that in my sauce... SWEET TOMATO BASIL!  YUM YUM

This weekend I ran over to the Oak Park Farmer's Market, as I do nearly every Saturday, and picked up a HUGE GINORMOUS sweet onion along with some beautiful large vine ripened tomatoes.  I then ran to the grocery for some tomato past, basil, and garlic.  Now it's all under way.

I put a pot of water on the stove to boil so I could peel my tomatoes and then mutilated half the sweet onion.  I would like to say dice but lord knows I don't have the patience for that!  I get through slicing it the first time and then I turn to random chopping like that onion kicked my dog.  Once it looked to be a fine mess of onion pieces, I threw it into a large stock pot with a good puddle of olive oil.  I set it on low and tossed in about a teaspoon and a half of natural rock cane sugar to caramelize.  While that was going, I turned my attention to the tomatoes.

Quite some time ago, I learned that peeling tomatoes can be a lot simpler than it seems.  To easily peel a tomato, cut a shallow "X" in the bottom of it (not the side that was once attached to the vine) just piercing the skin.  Toss it into a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds and presto, the skin will come right off.  I peeled 5 tomatoes managing not to burn myself once and I even remembered to stir the onions between each tomato.  Once peeled, I quartered the tomatoes and gutted out all the seeds... having a decent thumbnail helped.  Also, I only let one tomato quarter escape my hand (slippery little buggers when they are free of their skin!) and drop into the trash... good thing I had just put a fresh bag in and nothing else was in there.  Darn right I pulled it back out, rinsed it off and tossed it into the bowl with the rest of them!  Don't judge.

Once they were all done and in my big mixing bowl, I got to my favorite part of making sauce... THE MOOSHING!  With both hands I squished and mooshed and pummeled the tomatoes until they became one in a blob of red.  The onions were starting to turn color at that point so I decided to start peeling the garlic (not my favorite part).  With 7 cloves peeled, tomatoes peeled and mooshed, and onions that had taken on a nice light caramel color, I crushed my garlic into the pot and then tore up an 18g container of fresh basil.  Mind you, when you work with fresh herbs it is just like tea... to release the maximum amount of aroma and flavor the leaves should be rolled before torn.  Meaning you should literally wad them up in your hand and roll them between your palms.  Doing this breaks the cell membranes in the leaf.  So anyway, I tore up the basil and added it with the garlic and onions.  Let that saute for a few minutes, then I dumped my tomatoes, 2 cups of water, 1 cup of riesling, and a 6oz can of tomato paste.  I left it to simmer and went on to curse the amounts of small cuts I apparently had on my hands that the basil rolling and onion handling alerted me to.

I left the sauce to simmer a few hours.  Once I thought it was ready, I blended it smooth with a hand blender.  I also helped myself to a glass of that riesling... so what if it is only 1:58pm!  I told you, DON'T JUDGE!