Fresh-from-the-Garden Pasta Sauce

On a much lighter note than my last post, it's getting to be tomato harvest time! I'm hoping that between the six plants and four varieties I've got going this year, we'll have plenty of home-grown tomatoes for the rest of the summer.

Last night, I made a pasta sauce with whatever I could find that was ripe on the vine. (This was new for me. In the past, I've mostly used the backyard tomatoes uncooked, like in salads or on bruschetta.) I'd given away a ripe Half-Moon China and a bunch of Black Cherries on Sunday night, so all I could find that were ready were a couple of ripe Early Girls and a few more Black Cherries, but that was a great start. Then, I chopped a ton of freshly picked basil and parsley.






Great basics for a fresh sauce.






I sauteed those together in a skillet with a little sugar (to combat the tomatoes' acidity), some kosher salt, olive oil and garlic. In a separate skillet, I browned some venison Italian sausage with chopped onions. I combined the two skillets and added some crushed red pepper and a little red wine.

Mmmmm, pasta sauce, halalalamph...

I poured the whole thing over penne pasta and grated some Reggiano on top. So flavorful! The tomatoes really shrank in the cooking process, though, so maybe next time I'll wait until a few more are ripe.