There was a platter of tomatoes left over from Fern's canning spree and clearly we wouldn't eat them all before they rot. So I did something I've never done before. I spent an hour and a half scalding tomatoes and removing the skins and seeds. I sweated a shallot, carrot and couple of smashed garlic cloves then cooked the tomatoes for a while on lowish heat to soften them up then I used the immersion blender to liquefy them. I had close to three hours to simmer the sauce so I kept the heat low and lid on till I was ready to boil off the excess water.
The only things added to the sauce were salt, black pepper and a tablespoon of dried basil. Fresh would have been better but frost has killed it. I could have boiled off more water but I notice water on the plate when I used the commercial sauce so I think the pasta strains it out.
After all the work the sauce wasn't as good as Mezzetta Napa Bistro because the tomatoes just didn't have the punch of vine ripened late summer ones. Fresh basil would have helped also but I had what I had. I fried the prawns in butter and garlic then added them to the sauce to finish. The prawns had good flavour but over all the sauce was a bit anaemic. I'll have to try this with beautiful fresh summer tomatoes and see if I can outdo Mezzetta. I'll boil more liquid off too.
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