Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce
If you garden is starting to give you an abundance of these delicious summer fruits, try making your own homemade tomato sauce. I will walk you thru the steps of making and storing this simple sauce for later use. We will be freezing it and not putting it thru the time consuming hot water canning process.
Time: 3-4 hours Difficulty: Easy
First thing I like to do is gather up my mise en place, that is a French term us chef folks like to say for getting all your stuff together in one place before you begin to cook or bake.
We will start with our hardware
-2-3 cookie sheets or 1/2 pans
-Largest stock or soup pot you have, 8-12 qt.
-large mixing bowls
-Cutting board or mat
-Blender, stick mixer or immersion blender
-Stove and oven
-Freezer storage containers, any size
-Small sharp knife (sharper is always safer)
–tomato shark
Ingredients for Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce
-20-40 tomatoes, any variety but grape or cheery style
-Olive oil
-1 bulb garlic or jar of minced
-Oregano, fresh or dry
-Basil, fresh or dry
-onion, large white or Spanish
-sugar
-Salt and pepper
You notice that I didn’t list specific amounts of any ingredients because this recipe is totally dependent upon your personal taste buds. Some people like sweet, spicy or a somewhere in between sauce. You are the chef of your kitchen make it your own!
Prep:
First you want to wash and dry your tomatoes, dont worry if they have cracks or bruises we will get rid of them later. Preheat your oven to 400°F and adjust your racks to fit 2 to 3 sheet pans. With a sharp knife cut an X into the bottom of the tomato about 1/4” deep, enough to expose the flesh under the skin. With the tip of your knife or the handy-dandy tomato shark, remove the top core of the tomato and discard it. Place tomatoes on baking sheets core side down and place in hot oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit on the counter for 15 minutes to rest and cool slightly.
The Process:
Now the fun begins and a little bit of a mess as well, have plenty of paper towels around. Take slightly cooled tomatoes and peel the skin off starting with the X you make in the bottom, if some of the skin is stubborn dont worry just use your sharp knife and trim it away and any bad looking spots as well. Cut the tomato thru the equator (not north and south) to expose all the seed and jelly. Slightly squeeze the tomato in your hand over a bowl and with your finger remove as much of the seeds and jelly that you can then squeeze again to to get as much juice out as well. Put the tomato flesh into your large stock or soup pot. Continue this process until the all tomatoes are done or your pot is almost full. Put you pot on the stove and bring this up to a boil. Reduce heat to achieve a high simmer, you may want to use a splatter screen but do not cover it.
Our goal:
Let a majority of the water evaporate and concentrate our fresh tomato flavor. Remember tomatoes actually have a higher percentage of water in them than watermelon does. Stir ever few minutes to ensure that nothing is sticking at the bottom, we do not want to scorch our sauce at any point in this process. Dont rush it, if you kick the heat up do not leave unattended or it will scorch. Depending on the amount of tomatoes in the pot this step could take 1-2 hours to reduce the sauce. You will be looking for a “sauce” consistency, it should be thick on the spoon and not look like soup. Your pot should will be about 1/2 the amount of what you started with.
Lets finish it up:
Turn your heat down to a simmer. If you have an immersion or stick blender us it at this time to smooth out your sauce to your desired consistency. If using a blender be very careful and purée it in small batches so you do not burn your self and transfer it to another pot until it has all gone thru this step. Ok, let’s start adding our other ingredients and spices, or la la’s as my in-laws like to say. Remember this is your masterpiece, your very own ragu. I like to keep cooking notes in a book as I am trying something new, marking down what I am adding. this way I can reference it again next year. Add, taste, cook a few minutes longer and repeat until you have a flavor profile you and your family will enjoy. I like a lot of garlic from our garden, base line on the spice and a tad bit sweet. Keep in mind sauce ALWAYS tastes better the next day when all the ingredients have a chance to relax and get to know each other. You can always jazz it up a little bit the next day or the next month as well.
Storing for later use:
The best part of this sauce is that we do not have to go thru any long water bath canning process we are simply just going to freeze it. Make sure to use containers that are durable and not flimsy. Ball has nice ones available thru Amazon or at Walmart. Make sure sauce is completely cooled. I like to fill my sink up with ice water and place my pot of sauce in the sink, stirring frequently to bring down the temperature of the sauce. Ladle you cooled creation into you chosen containers and leave about about 1” of head space to allow for expansion when frozen. Place sauce in freezer and store for up to a year. When you want some homemade sauce just thaw it in the refrigerator for a few days or thaw in the microwave and bring it back to a boil, adjust seasonings if needed and ENJOY !
Last year I took some sauce to share with a co-worker, the next day she brought in shopping bags full of tomatoes with a smile on her face. Need I say more?
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