Homemade Garden Spaghetti Sauce

This is adapted from a recipe I found on Pinterest (and no longer remember where) and directions given by my friend Chris. :)  AMAZING!

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large or 2 small yellow onions, finely chopped
• 4 lbs. tomatoes (original recipe called for Roma, I used Heirlooms and Better Boys from my garden! Homegrown is the way to go!)
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil, minced or 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1-2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped, or 1/4 cup dried parsley

First you cut an X in the bottom of each tomato.   Add tomatoes to large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes. Then use some kind of slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes from the water, one at a time.  You can then peel them easily.  Next, you will want to cut out the stem end.  At this point, you'll want to either very finely chop (if you like a chunky sauce) or puree the tomatoes.  (The original post instructed you to squeeze the guts out of the tomatoes but I just pureed the whole thing.  You'll need the juice.)

Heat olive oil in a large deep pot. Add finely chopped onions and cook, covered, over low heat until tender and lightly colored, about 5 minutes.  Now you are ready to add your onions to the pot. Heat your oil and add your onions, cooking for about 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper, garlic and parsley.  (Original recipe says to add garlic and parsley in last 5 minutes of simmering; I didn't.)  


I also added about 12 oz water using my tomato paste can because it was too thick for me.  You should simmer this for something like 2 hours at a minimum. As it cooks, the juices will come out even more and the flavors start to mix together.


This is obviously not a quick weeknight meal.  Not terribly time-consuming, but I can understand why I've only had jarred spaghetti sauce to this point in my life. :)  I have to say the taste was well worth the effort.  And the maple syrup was my own addition (got the idea from my favorite pizza sauce recipe).  Leave it out if you hate sweet sauces!  Next time I might added some bell pepper and such.