Solar Powered Pasta Sauce

Community Supported Agriculture - We still had some of our tomatoes leftover from our CSA last week, so I decided to make pasta sauce yesterday. It just happened to be one of the hottest days of the year and I really didn't want the pot of sauce simmering away all day and heating up the kitchen, so solar powered sauce it is...

Solar Powered Pasta Sauce "cooking" on the deck

Solar Powered Pasta Sauce*

Don’t use the stove top to simmer homemade sauce all day and heat up the house, let the sun do the work! Solar pasta sauce is a light and refreshing summer pasta sauce.

6 fresh tomatoes

1 t. salt

10 basil leaves, chiffonade

1 t. red pepper flakes

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

9 cloves garlic, minced

In a large skillet sauté garlic in the olive oil for about 3 minutes on medium heat. Don’t let it burn. Remove from heat, and let the mixture sit to blend the flavors.

Meanwhile, peel and then chop the fresh tomatoes.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large clear glass bowl or 8 c. measuring cup. (Don’t use plastic – you don’t want chemicals leaching into the sauce.) Mash everything together with a potato masker.

Cover the bowl and take outside to the summer sun! After a few hours in the sun, the sauce will be nice and hot – ready to pour over pasta. Yum!

*Adapted from a recipe written by Jasper Mirabile Jr. of Jasper's restaurant in Kansas City, originally published in the Kansas City Star. 

Peeling tomatoes was fun, messy, and took a little longer than I thought!