If It Ain't Easy, I Don't Cook It

The Yin and Yang of Salsa Fresca

or

Mamma Eva's Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

fresh tomatoes

1 carrot (peeled and cut in half)

1 onion (cut in half)

fresh basil (to taste)

salt (to taste)

extra virgin olive oil

milk (some)

Cook the onion for a minute or two in a couple of tablespoons of oil. Add the tomatoes that you have washed and cut in half. How many tomatoes? Well, Mamma Eva's recipes never get that specific. Enough tomatoes to fill a decent sized pot about halfway...does that help? How about a couple of kilos of tomatoes? Experiment and see what works for you! Add the carrot and the basil. Cook about half an hour or until the tomatoes start to break down. Pass the sauce through your passaverdura (I'm not sure what this tool is called in English, take a look at this photo and then let me know what you would call it, please!) Be sure to really work all the tomato through the passaverdura. The liquid will go through quickly, but you have to keep turning and turning the handle diligently to get the other parts of the tomato through, but it's worth it because that's the stuff that thickens your sauce up nicely. Put the sauce back on the stovetop over a medium/low heat and let it cook some more. The longer you cook it the thicker it gets. At this point add the salt and some more olive oil, if desired. Adding some milk will cut the acidity of the sauce.

Buon appetito!