The last day of June

This last day of June usually finds me making some preparations for a season that doesn't start until November. Well I'm jumping ahead a bit in this post, so the preparation stuff will come later.

Tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes we have here now are store bought. The local native ones are about a week or so away from making it to the farm stands, and I can't wait. Store bought tomatoes are without flavor, they make terrible sandwiches, and to put them in a salad will insult the fine lettuce they sit with. There are a few things one can do with these non-native fellows that make them quite good. I start with Roma tomatoes, drop them into boiling water for a few minutes until the skins split. I them remove them and allow them to drain and cool. The skins are removed quite easily, then they are cut up into bite size pieces and set aside.

Next I take several, I mean lots of garlic and slice it as thin as possible then set it aside. Now I grab a couple Vidalia onions, which I slice and rough cut, also putting aside. One of the herbs I have growing on the deck is basil. Basil is one herb that is a perfect compliment to the tomato. So I'll grab some of the basil and rip the leaves in half and place along side the other ingredients.

In a large pan I'll place some Olive oil and start to heat the oil. I then add the garlic and onion. Cook these two for a few minutes until the onions soften, being careful not to burn the garlic. Then add the cut tomatoes, salt and crushed red pepper to your taste and the basil. Cook all of these together for a half hour. This will give you an incredible sauce. It will have a nice chunky consistency with super flavor.

I still have some deer from last seasons hunt in the freezer. And if I sort through it I can find a nice piece of tender venison that can be fried quickly and be so tender. I take the deer slice it into serving size pieces, drop it into a hot skillet. When almost done, being sure you can still see rare meat add some of the tomato sauce to the deer and allow to cook a minute or two. Serve immediately.

Sausage and red potatoes baked in the oven with the same basic tomato sauce. So flavorful.

And with out saying....meatballs. These were made with ground turkey, and they are awesome.