Stewed Tomatoes

There's an over abundance of tomatoes this time of year, at least up here in the Midwest where everyone grows their own. We don't do it because we have family that does. I was staring at 10 tomatoes on my counter, 5 of them very ripe, so I thought about what to make with them right away. I pondered: salsa? tomato sauce? spaghetti sauce? I settled on stewed tomatoes. Now, I've never made these from scratch, but I always keep cans of them in my pantry. I figured I could separate the batch into small containers and freeze them. I searched for recipes and there are many variations, so as usual (I ain't scared) I combined the ingredients I thought worked best considering what I had at my disposal.

5 large ripe tomatoes (I did not sacrifice my GIANT tomato for this, it is still whole, but not for long)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2-3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 cup water

To successfully peel your tomatoes, boil water, dip the tomatoes in the water for about one minute and transfer to a cold water filled bowl. The skin will shrivel and you can pull it off with your fingers. Dice your tomatoes removing as many seeds as possible and discarding the hard stem portion. Melt your butter in a pan and sautee your celery, onions, peppers and garlic. Add your tomatoes, your salt, sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a gentle boil for about 20 minutes.

Sofrito Cubano

My grandmother gave me advice when I first started dating: Stay away from the good-looking ones, she said. El hombre es como el oso, mientras mas feo, mas hermoso – Men are like bears, the burlier and uglier the better. I didn't pay much attention, and set my sights on the handsome ones. The irony is, that thirty years later, they all pretty much ended up burly and ugly. Thank goodness I did follow her advice when she told me to learn how to cook, and she was a great teacher.

Most Cuban recipes start with a base called Sofrito. To the following Sofrito you can add meat, or chicken, or fish, or just about anything. It would be difficult to find a Cuban kitchen lacking the following ingredients. How much Sofrito you make depends on the amount of food you're cooking, but the basic recipe requires:

4 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

2 large green peppers, chopped

8-10 cloves of garlic, pressed

2 cans tomato sauce

1 or 2 bay leaves

dash of oregano

dash of ground cumin

Salt/Pepper

3/4 cup Sherry or dry white wine

salt to taste

The secret to a good Sofrito is to let it simmer a while so all the tastes meld. Warm oilive oil on medium heat and sautee onions, peppers, and garlic until limp. Add the tomato sauce, bay leaves, oregano, cumin and Sherry and let simmer. If you add the salt, taste beforehand as you might not need it at all.