Low sodium tomato sauce - slow cooker

Here's a simple way to use fresh garden tomatoes to make a delicious, low sodium sauce that cooks down very well in your slow cooker (crock pot.)  Use it in a multitude of ways such as a starter sauce for pasta, on pizza in ratatouille etc.  Add fresh herbs of your choice.  I used basil and rosemary.  Follow through to the bottom to see the nutrient analysis.

Ready made tomato sauce is often very high in salt.  When I made this recipe it didn't really need salt as the tomatoes were fresh and sweet. You decide.  I did show the analysis with 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) salt for the batch.

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Makes 8 x 1 cup serving= 16 x 1/2 cup servings = 2 litres cooked and pureed.

36 Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup white onion, diced - 250 ml
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red hot chile pepper, minced (optional)
1 Tbsp olive oil - 15 ml
2 bay leaves, whole
2 Tbsp rosemary, fresh - 30 ml
1 cup basil, fresh - 250 ml
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper - 2.5 ml

1.  Add ingredients to crock of a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on HIGH setting.  After 2 hours and when it is boiling, remove lid, stir and leave uncovered so moisture evaporates.  Cook another 2 hours or until liquid reduced and mixture is thick like that below.

2.  Remove bay leaves and stem from rosemary.  Puree with immersion blender or mash with a potato masher.  Use in your favourite recipes.  It freezes well but is not suited to canning due to acidity being lower.

Below is an example of easy too use suggestions.  I made a garden zucchini ratatouille with some onions etc. to make a few containers for the freezer.

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NUTRITION FACTS (per 1/2 cup - 125 ml): 40 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 80 mg salt, 7 g carbohydrate, 2 g fibre, 4 g sugar.   % Daily Values 25% Vitamin A, 35% Vitamin C, 2% each for calcium and iron.

(c) Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc.  

Visit my website to find out more about online nutrition counselling. http://nancyguppy.com/