We are at the peak of summer and that means one thing: tomatoes! I can’t get enough of them. In fact, I wrote a book You Say Tomato featuring my favorite “fruit eaten as a vegetable”. Whether plum, beefsteak, cherry, heirloom, yellow, or zebra, my house smells of all kinds of wonderful tomato sauces right now. My Peak-Season Tomato Sauce recipe is a one-pot wonder that you can enjoy now or freeze for when tomatoes taste like, well cardboard.

Many of you have told me that you want to learn how to make sauces. Your questions about sauces inspired me to create a Sauce Camp Weekend intensive course, August 13-15. Why does the word “sauce” inspire such fear in cooks? I love the simple sauces that take minutes to make: tzatziki, aioli, vinaigrette or salsas. Try my Summer Nectarine, Tomato, and Red Onion Salsa served simply with tortilla chips - it is sure to get you kudos at the table.

Of course there are also the “big daddy’s” of the sauce world –
an “essence” (not Emeril’s!) is a sauce that starts with elaborate stocks, lots of meat caramelization and is reduced for a long time, like the one in this spectacular Beef Tenderloin Rolled with Greens. Save this one for a special occasion and company!

Over the course of my Sauce Camp Weekend we’ll make over a dozen sauces together from Friday night to Sunday, some that you may have tried at restaurants but had no idea how to make them at home. Take this intensive course and you’ll be sauced for sure!

See you at Sauce Camp!

Teaching in Sunny Mexico