tomato sauce

Eric's parents can grow some righteous tomatoes. Eric brought the ripe ones up with him last week, since they were on vacation, and I used them to make a just-right tomato sauce. The recipe is here:  http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/08/naked-tomato-sauce/

In brief, blanch, peel and de-seed three pounds of tomatoes and let them simmer for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, slowly (like, over 45 minutes) bring 1/4 cup of olive oil to a simmer with a clove of thinly-sliced garlic, a pinch of CRP, and a bit of shredded basil. Strain the olive oil and add to the tomatoes.
Cook the pasta until it needs one more minute to be done, so super al dente. Add the pasta to the sauce with a bit of pasta water and cook for that one more minute. Add a glob of butter and more basil and dinner is served!

The peeling and de-seeding part did take forever. However, the results were just right! I can easily see how people become obsessive over certain foods (Jiro and his sushi, for example) since it is unclear which of the many variables involved is crucial for achieving just-rightness. I am going to investigate the canned tomato avenue and see if that saves any time...

These are the hair cells (trichomes) on one of my transgenic plants. They're polka-dotted! Since the fluorescent protein is called tdTomato I thought it was appropriate to include here.