accomplishedGolden Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
About 2 lbs. Yellow Roma tomatoes
About 1 lb. yellow beefsteak tomatoes
1 small (about 8”) yellow summer squash
1 sweet yellow onion
1 teaspoon lemon thyme
1 teaspoon sweet marjoram
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Generous sprinkling of Muntok white pepper
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Directions:
Set a large pot of water to boil; it will need to reach a rolling boil to scald the tomatoes. Set a large pot of cold water beside it.
Scrub the squash. Dice it and put the bits in a bowl for later use.
Peel the onion. Dice it and put the bits in a bowl for later use.
Wash the Yellow Roma tomatoes. Cut the ends off. Carefully cut a line down one side. Dunk them, 3-6 at a time, in boiling water for 30 seconds. Transfer them to cold water. Pull the skins off. Put the peeled tomatoes in a bowl. Dice the peeled tomatoes – they’ll pretty much turn to slush – and scrape the results into a bowl.
Pour the Yellow Roma tomato slush into the crock pot and turn it on Low. Add the diced squash and the diced onion. Stir together, then cover the crock.
Repeat the same process of scalding and dicing with the yellow beefsteak tomatoes. Add them to the crock pot, and stir.
Add the lemon thyme, the sweet marjoram, and the sea salt. Stir. Grind white pepper over the surface of the sauce. Stir. Cover and ignore for a while.
Every half-hour or so, stir the sauce. It will eventually cook down and thicken. Watch for the onion to become translucent and the squash to soften. The tomatoes should turn to thick liquid with a few solid bits. The color should be golden yellow to pale orange. Add the cornstarch, honey, and light brown sugar as the sauce thickens, until it has the desired texture and flavor.
Notes:
Yellow Roma is a type of “sauce” tomato. These tomatoes are long and narrow, intended to cook down to a nice paste or sauce. They are related to the more familiar Red Roma type.
DO NOT use ordinary canned tomato paste in this recipe! It’s made from the standard Red Roma type tomatoes, and will make the spaghetti sauce darker.
The other kind of tomato is often called a “beefsteak” or “slicing” tomato. They are round with firm flesh. Yellow tomatoes tend to be milder and sweeter than red tomatoes. Pretty much any variety of round yellow tomato will work for this part of the recipe; use what you can find.
If the sauce is too juicy, here are some options for thickening: 1) Turn to High and leave the lid off so the sauce will cook down more; check it every ten minutes or so. 2) Add a little more cornstarch.
If the sauce is too tangy, add more sweetener. This sauce benefits most from a light, golden-flavored sweetener. Wildflower, basswood, or any other very pale yellow honey is ideal. Clover or mixed-flower honey (the most commonly available ones) is medium to dark gold; it might work, but be careful. Anything darker is too dark. Light brown sugar works; dark brown sugar is too dark. White sugar may work; just add it slowly and taste often, because it’s super sweet. Light corn syrup would probably work, if you like its flavor; I don’t.
If the flavors sound good to you, but you don’t like a chunky sauce, then you can either: 1) puree the vegetables in a blender before combining them, 2) mash the cooked sauce, or 3) put the cooked sauce through a strainer.
This sauce is good when topped by Parmesan cheese.
October 7 2008, 16:00:05 UTC 12 years ago
We used to grow yellow tomatoes. My father had ulcers throughout his life (he died [unrelated to the ulcers] about the time they discovered a cure) and while red tomatoes contained too much acid and caused him severe gastric distress, the yellow variety has a lower acid level and he could eat and enjoy them without penalty.