Our tomato plants have been quite prolific this year. Early last week I walked out to the garden and was greeted with so many red-ripe tomatoes and absolutely no plans for using them. I decided right then and there to confront my fear of canning and tackle this head-on. Why am I afraid of canning? First off – why is it called canning when everything is being put into a glass jar? How do you know if you’ve “canned” properly? What if I waste all my time and it doesn’t taste good? The list goes on and on. So the first thing I did was do some research. I found tons of recipes online and then I started getting to the good stuff that actually answered all my questions. Once I found out the methods behind the madness I felt more comfortable and went for it!
{Not into canning? No worries! Just make up the sauce and freeze in freezer bags.}
Ingredients {resulted in 5 pints of sauce plus a little extra}:
15 lbs of tomatoes (I used mostly Roma)
2 med onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 Tbls fresh basil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbls sugar
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
2 Tbls dried oregano
2 bay leaves
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 small can of tomato paste {optional; use if your sauce is not thick enough for you}
1/4 c lemon juice (from a bottle; used to acidify)
Directions:
Add the tomatoes and let them cook for 10-15 minutes before adding all the other ingredients. Stir to combine and let simmer until the sauce has cooked down to your desired thickness. If you want to use a masher to speed the break-down of the tomatoes that’s totally fine. Mine took a little over an hour to get nice and thick but it will totally depend on the type of tomatoes you are using and the amount of liquid you start with.
Looks beautiful! I wish I had more than just one little cherry tomato plant on my deck. Maybe next year…enjoy your gorgeous sauce, you did a great job!
Thank you Holly! I feel so accomplished :)
Seeing your homemade pasta sauce, we are also craving for having tomato plants in our garden.Recipe is quite delicious and your way of explaining is worth appreciating.
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a pasta sauce recipe that starts with fresh tomatoes instead of tomato paste. I’ll try this one if I get enough tomatoes out of my garden.
You’re welcome Bethanny! Tomato paste is totally optional in this recipe and it’s not really needed if you let your sauce thicken over enough time.
Thank you so much for posting this. Maybe I can conquer my fear of canning now. I have been so scared to try because I could not stand it if the food was spoiled.
Great instructions! I make pasta sauce all the time but never think to try canning it.
Regards site we can able to understand that how to make it pasta and wonderful site. With the help we can able to understand how to make recipe.
I make salsa and chili sauce every year but I have never tried pasta sauce. You have made it look so good that I think I will give it a try. Love your photography too !
Great recipe! I think I am going to have to try it. I have a canner, etc.. but have gotten lazy and just freeze things in my canning jars. :0)
Thanks for sharing.
Melissa
redflycreations.blogspot.com
I make pasta sauce all the time and nevet thought of this! This is great! Thanks for sharing.
I hope you could share this with at my link party happening today :)
http://myricandreasen.blogspot.com/2012/09/passion-parade-link-party-and-stool_13.html
xo
Myric
P.S
I am now a follower :)
Totally pinning! Thanks!
Totally on board with that! YUM!
That so sharing that it looks amazing. I have pinned it.
I have been a canning fool the past few weeks. But I’ve yet to do pasta sauce. I need to do that!
Looks so fresh and yummy! Pinned it too!
Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much we waste every year. I give more away than we can use. Now I can at least give it a try. I have always wanted to at least “Try”
This looks so good! And I think it was here that I read a post about taking a photography class – If so – I want to go too. Your food pics look amazing!
This looks like a good sauce recipe. I need to try this one next year when the bumper crop of tomatoes come in. Thank you for the tutorial.
I have been wanting to do some pasta sauce for Christmas this year, and this recipe looks fantastic, I am pinning it for later. Thanks for showing off!
Carlee
http://www.ladybirdln.com
I’ve been wanting to do this!! thanks for the recipe!
Laura from LifeWeLive4
Thanx for the homemade recipe–I’ve always used Mrs. Wages and seems like cheating. Am going home right now to make a batch since the tomatoes are just sitting on the counter.
Thank you – I’ve been looking all over for a homemade recipe. One hint on breaking down your tomatoes so you don’t have to cook them so long: use an immersion blender. After my salsa has simmered for a little while to get the flavors to come out, I use an immersion blender to puree my salsa since I have a couple boys who don’t like it all “chunky”. Works great!
Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing!