I received, what I consider, an abundance of tomatoes from our CSA this week. There was a mix of yellow and red cherries and 2 pints of Heirlooms. Most folks would be happy to pop one of these in their mouths and enjoy. Our family, on the other hand, would rather have them cooked instead of raw.
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| Beautiful Heirlooms – Love the color |
I thought making a sauce would be the best thing to do with these lovelies. I felt something with no herbs or spices would be my best choice. I wanted a sauce that would become whatever I wanted it to be, whenever I wanted it.
I washed the little gems and tossed them into the blender. I didn’t even bother to peel the skins off.
The result of the blending was frothy and pink. I worried I may have added too many yellow tomatoes. No fear, the end result was wonderful.
It took about four blendings to fill my eight quart pan. I brought the puree to a boil and cooked it for about 3 hours. Cooking the tomatoes for this long gives you a nice, thick sauce. If you stop the cooking process at about 1 1/2 hours, you will have tomato juice.
Making the sauce was as easy as that!
If you want to can it, there are a few more steps. Fill your water bath canner, (or other large deep pot) with water. Bring it to a boil. Pour the hot tomato sauce into clean, sterilized pint jars. Add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Leave a 1/2″ head space. Remove air bubbles, make sure your rims are clean, add hot lids and rings. Place the pint jars in the canner and process for 45 minutes.
When the processing is finished, cool the jars on a wire rack. My favorite part of canning is listening for the “ping”! Then I know I have done something right.
This sauce can easily be used for marinara, chili or most any recipe calling for a tomato sauce.
Hope you are able to use this sauce recipe.
Mangiare di buon!
Well you’re set for the rest of the year now. I hope you don’t get more tomatoes next time!
yes, I was shocked by the first time I did it and the mix was pink. Just a little time and it turns red. What a beautiful mix of tomatoes. I think I would have had them raw with some basil and olive oil, but how wonderful to have homemade sauce. I read a book about Italian immigrants to my hometown and they would make paste by spreading the tomato liquid on 4×8 pieces of plywood and scraping and turning it out in the sun until it thickened. What a job! It was fascinating to read about.
We love tomatoes in all forms around here….having a yummy and fresh puree at hand makes me want to add a little cream and make bisque
I like to get the big ones, slice them in half and put them in the oven with just a light drizzle of oil and salt on top. They get very sweet and make a great puree from that point, too