you saucy thing
Saturday, September 15th, 2012
Recipe: tomato sauce (canning)
See that? THAT is my litmus stand of aspens. When it turns, it’s nearly time for me to hit the road. Thing is, it’s early this year by about ten days. So I’m scrambling to finish a ton of work before I head out into the golden yonder for the fall shoot. It’s like having dinner guests show up early when you aren’t ready to receive them. Thanks for that, Nature!
despite the push in schedule, the colors are lookin’ good
As promised, I’ve got another (a last) tomato recipe for you. Folks were asking about it and I have been doing it – canning tomato sauce. Next to diced tomatoes, I go through a good bit of tomato sauce in the winter months (October through May). There are so many ways you could make your tomato sauce, but I found Marisa‘s recipe to be the best for my preferences. I like a smooth, even, and slightly thickened sauce. The one thing I really recommend getting your hands on is a food mill of some sort. Borrow one if you must, but get a food mill.
start with lots of lovely tomatoes, duh!
and bottled lemon juice
Just like the diced tomatoes, the only ingredients you need are tomatoes and bottled lemon juice. Yes, bottled lemon juice. I prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice over bottled any day except this day. This day, we fight! No wait… this day we use bottled lemon juice because it has a consistent acidity level which you want so you can avoid things like botulism. Do that.
stem the tomatoes
dice the tomatoes
The nice thing about tomato sauce is that you don’t have to core the tomatoes like you do for diced tomatoes. Nor do you have to peel them like you would when canning diced tomatoes. It’s terrific and it goes quickly. Marisa’s instructions have you dice a handful of tomatoes and place them in a stock pot to boil while you crush them with a spoon. I use a potato masher because it gets my aggressions out better. The crushing also helps to keep the sauce from separating into liquids and solids in the jars. Add some more diced tomatoes and keep crushing until all of the tomatoes are done.
i crush you
bring it to a boil
**Jump for more butter**
