You like the picture? That’s a castle, there’s a lot of those here. This particular one is on the island of Ischia and I think its fascinating the way it was built right onto the rock like that. The picture has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m going to post about, but I thought it was way more interesting than a can of tomatoes to look at.

I love fresh and seasonal produce, but unfortunately some vegetables are only at their peak for a short period of time. One of those is definitely the tomato. When its peak season, tomatoes are to die for, but the other 11 months of the year, they can be just OK. That’s why its important to find a really good brand of canned tomatoes and you can have your yummy tomato sauce all year round. I know imported Italian tomatoes are more expensive, but when the sauce is the center piece of your meal, its worth the extra buck. San Marzano tomatoes are from the area around Naples and Mount Vesuvius. They are long and thin for a tomato and get their great flavor from the volcanic soils of that area. They are pretty easy to find at specialty and fancy markets all over the place. I highly recommend you at least give ’em a try and if you don’t think they’re worth the extra buck you can go back to your regular ones and I won’t be offended.

I love tomato sauce. It’s so versatile and easy to make. Once you learn to make it, you will never ever go back to that stuff in the jar. This simple sauce can be the platform for anything in the kitchen to jump off of and into your pasta or meat. That was corny, sorry. Seriously though, you can add other vegetables or meats and put it on pasta or rice. You can use it as a sauce for meats or vegetables to make something like eggplant parmesan. You can throw in a red pepper if your feeling spicy or a can of tuna if your feeling fishy. Isn’t it great! Ok, here’s the breathtakingly easy recipe….