Monday! It's tomato sauce time :)
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Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Dave in Northridge
Sunday:
loggersbrat
Tomatoes from my garden, for the sauce
Every Spring, I cannot resist the siren sound of tomato plants. Tomato plants smell like summer to me. When I was growing up, my parents had a garden next to the carriage house. We planted mostly tomatoes and corn, but we never actually got any corn. The birds and bugs got it all.
One year, when we were in high school, my middle brother and I, more out of curiosity than anything else, planted some pot seeds among the tomatoes. They grew. My mother noticed that they did not produce any tomatoes, and told my father that we got some defective plants. My father examined them closely, yanked them out, and summoned me.
"Did you plant pot in your mother's garden?" he asked. "Um, yes, but how did you know that it was pot?" said I, smartly. "I was in the Army! And you are grounded!" he roared. "What about Son Number One?" I cried. "You're the oldest," he said.
Well, that was unfair.
Some years, I dehydrate the tomatoes and use them for pesto or put them in soups or throw them in risotto. Some years, I make sauce. This is a sauce year.
Previously, I used my friend David's mother's recipe, which is simply a list of ingredients. No measurements. Not a single one. He said, "You just throw everything in the pot and let it cook." It's delicious, but best suited for instinctive cooks.
This year, I'm going to try this recipe:
Taste of Home
Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
TOTAL TIME: Prep: 1-1/2 hours + simmering Process: 40 min. MAKES: 48 servings
Ingredients
25 pounds tomatoes
4 large green peppers, seeded
4 large onions, cut into wedges
4 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
8 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
Nutritional Facts
3/4 cup equals 118 calories, 5 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 614 mg sodium, 17 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 3 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat.
Directions
In a Dutch oven, bring 8 cups water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, place tomatoes, one at a time, in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Remove each tomato and immediately plunge in ice water. Peel and quarter tomatoes.
In a food processor, cover and process green peppers and onions in batches until finely chopped.
In a stockpot, combine the tomatoes, green pepper mixture, tomato paste, oil, sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, parsley, basil, pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves.
Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to each of nine hot 1-qt. jars. Ladle hot mixture into jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: 9 quarts.
Editor's Note: The processing time listed is for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. For altitudes up to 3,000 feet, add 5 minutes; 6,000 feet, add 10 minutes; 8,000 feet, add 15 minutes; 10,000 feet, add 20 minutes.
Originally published as Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce in Taste of Home
Read more: http://www.tasteofhome.com/...
H/t to our trkingmomoe for telling me about Taste of Home :)
I'll be making this tomorrow while cleaning up the basement. We had a flood. It wasn't too bad, but we need new drywall, doors, and a floor.
Happy Labor Day!