Heirloom tomato sauce with lemon and cinnamon basil

This was definitely one of the best tomato sauces ever tasted in this house.  Ripe, Great White heirloom fruits made for a superb, low-acid, creamy sauce. There are a number of heirloom "white" tomatoes; 'Great White' is the best according to employee-owned 'Johnny Selected Seeds' out of Winslow, ME.  The fruit is meaty with few seeds, which makes for easy saucing.  Don't be fooled by its mild flavor when eating raw; cooked, these babies turn out one heck of a sauce.

For this recipe, we used ~4 lbs of tomatoes.  'Great White' is prolific; we got lots from our two plants!

Begin with 3-5 lbs of your favorite tomato...

Using a paring knife, cut small x's at the flower end of the fruit (the stem end is the more obvious end!).  Plunge the tomatoes into salted boiling water for 20-30 seconds, remove to an ice bath for a minute or two, and then let drain on a rack until ready to peel and seed.

Heat a finely diced large onion in ample evoo over medium heat until softened.  Add 5-6 cloves of thinly sliced fresh garlic, and cook until soft and aromatic, lowering heat as needed.  Squeeze the peeled tomatoes over a strainer set over a bowl, catching the seeds.  Add the hand crushed tomatoes and saved juice to the pot of soft onions and garlic (press the seeds through the strainer set right over the pot as shown).  Bring the tomatoes to a low boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for 35-50 minutes (depends on many factors: pounds of tomatoes, humidity in the air, power of your cooktop, etc.), stirring once or thrice to prevent scorching.  

Stems of fresh lemon and cinnamon basil (Aspen Hill delights from early spring stock) picked from the garden moments before await their fate in a pot of simmering sauce.  I used all that you see here, and more.  Add the whole leaves to the pot at the very end, once the sauce is thickened.  Also add a healthy pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and for brightness, add a splash of your best quality balsamic vinegar.  I happened to have a bottle of Three Kitchen's balsamic marinade on hand, which has rosemary and juniper in it.  YUM!!

The only problem with this whole dish is that it will be gone before long.  It'd be nice to have 104lbs of tomatoes, nevermind 4lbs.  Canning...freezing...gifts...late January winter nights....