A Tomato Sauce and a Salmon and Brussel Sprouts dinner: two simple culinary delights that begin with an herb garden

With every year I garden, I am becoming increasingly aware of the value of growing herbs. I don't understand why everyone doesn't have a simple herb garden. One can interweave the plants with flowers and have something that has aesthetic value to multiple senses. Sages and basil with a little oregano and thyme mixed in with various flowers has multiple benefits. Put them in the ground and keep them watered and you will be happy.

The roma tomatoes are starting to ripen. And small batches of fresh tomato sauce this time of year is something I look forward to making. I use to focus on salsa but that has taken second fiddle. My most recent focus is a honey-bourbon cream tomato sauce.

Honey-Bourbon Tomato Cream Sauce
I take a half dozen (or however many I have--usually about 4 cups worth) roma tomatoes and skin them. It's easy to skin tomatoes: core them, slice an x pattern into the bottom and drop them in boiling water for about 15 seconds (at the most) then plunge them into an ice water bath. The skin comes right off a healthy, ripe tomato.

I pull some oregano, basil, and rosemary from the garden and a few cloves of garlic I grew and dried. This was my first year growing garlic and it is a definite step up from anything store bought. So I chop up the herbs and the garlic and heat up some olive oil. Then I drop in the garlic and let it saute for about a minute then drop in the other herbs. After another minute or so I add the bourbon. And I haven't figured out the measurements yet but I'm thinking about a 1/4 cup of bourbon for four cups of tomatoes. I guess it might depend on whether or not you like bourbon, but if you don't like the taste of bourbon, why cook with it? I let it boil to get the alcohol out and then I add about a tablespoon of honey and tomatoes. I chop up the tomatoes into big chunks before adding them.  I don't use a lot of honey. The bourbon already provides some sweetness. Then you just let it cook over low heat for at least a half an hour covered. The longer the better. Of course you have to keep an eye on it, especially with the meaty tomatoes. This sauce got really condensed. After simmering, I add a half cup of half and half.

I also ended up adding a small can of tomato paste and a cup of the pasta water to the most recent batch. Anyway it was good and simple to make. I know it can be better though if I get the flavors properly proportioned. I also forgot to add salt which makes a difference in taste, too.

Herb Crusted Salmon and Brussel Sprouts
The other night I pulled a few leaves of thai basil and sage. I chopped up a garlic clove and some of the basil and rubbed it on top of a sockeye salmon filet with some olive oil and sea salt. I brought some water to a boil then added the same amount of milk and once it was boiling added salt and pepper and tossed in the brussel sprouts. I boiled them for 8 minutes. When two minutes were left I added the sage leaves and the thai basil leaves and a little butter. And drained them once the two minutes were up.

I grilled the salmon 3.5 minutes to a side over medium heat skin side down first. And I had a nice simple dinner. It all took about 20 minutes.