Sunshine Sauce!

There was no sunshine in Southern Illinois today. It has rained for hours! I had lots of work to do on this Saturday at home, but I knew I'd want a nice Saturday night dinner, so I put the ingredients for one of my favorite sauces in the crock pot.

Because I had a 24 ounce package of small heirloom tomatoes, I used them. I always have a few naval oranges in the winter, so I used one of them. I have a nice variety of frozen herbs because my little herb garden was super productive last summer, so I froze a lot.

This sauce is so simple. Pierce the skins of each tomato, and put the whole thing in. Cut the orange in pieces, squeeze some juice over the tomatoes and throw peel and all in the crock pot. Add a cup of water and 2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh/frozen basil.  Cook on high for 4 hours. Add a clove of garlic minced and a small can of tomato paste.  Cook another hour on high and the sauce will have thickened.

The sauce can be used for a variety of things.  It is great over sauteed shrimp with pasta. It is great over pasta with no meat or seafood!  If you like to layer cooked chicken or cooked seafood in lasagna, this is the perfect sauce for that. Just include a couple layers of cheese.

 I used it to top chicken. I dipped thin boneless skinless chicken breast in egg wash and then in Italian bread crumbs. I gently fried the chicken in olive oil. When the chicken was done, I removed it from the stove and placed a thin slice of provolone cheese on each piece.

 I topped the breaded chicken with Sunshine Sauce and served it with creamy pesto sauced gnocchi.

I always freeze the extra sauce. This is great to make in the summertime, when you have an abundance of fresh tomatoes!