Ciao Tuscany, Ni Hao China!!

Well it's finally here.  We are bidding a fond farewell to Tuscany for now and eagerly anticipating our arrival in China.
It has been a busy week all around not to mention preparing for our trip.

One of the final chores in Tuscany was picking the last of the tomatoes and harvesting as much of the herb garden as I could.  So what to do with all of this?  Well really it was a no brainer, gorgeous tomatoes and fragrant basil became this tasty Marinara Sauce.


Here's the Recipe:

Marinara Sauce
A whole bunch of tomatoes off the vine (20 or so), quartered
1 TBSP olive oil
5-6 Cloves chopped garlic
Hot Chili flakes (to taste)
A big handful of Basil leaves
1 small tin of Tomato Paste (156 ml)
Salt and Pepper

Heat the oil in a sauce pan, toss in the tomatoes and garlic, leave on med-high heat until the tomatoes begin to break down, approx 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, chili flakes and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and let this simmer for at least 30 minutes.  I like to treat this like most Italian Mamas.....just leave it to simmer all day.
If tomato skins annoy you, drag out the immersion blender and zuzz it up.  Just before serving, snip up the basil and add to the sauce.  We like this over pasta drizzled with a tiny bit of fragrant olive oil.

I've got this ready for the freezer.  I have a feeling that BR will be very happy to have this waiting for him after three weeks of Asian food.

That's all for today, hopefully next time you check in we will be posting from China.
Zaijian for now!