Backwoods Cottage: tomato sauce

Many days I end up heading for bed disappointed in not accomplishing my list of ‘to do's’ then stop, take stock of what I did actually get done and content myself with that. There is so many fun projects I wanted to get to this summer but here it is late August and I have not touched hardly any.

When I am not cleaning vacation homes my time has been spend painting signs..(it helps pay the bills so not a frivolous activity)

Here are some recent ones.

For the life of me I cannot get a photo that shows the true coral color of this, and it does not get darker at the bottom in real life.

You Are My Sunshine subway art sign

This sign I had to do 3 times over!

Crazy, I nicknamed it the sign from hell. I finally got it sent off to the customer and then he informs me it arrived damaged.

Argh! I had wrapped it securely with bubble wrap and everything. That was one rough postal carrier. The customer said his father will be able to fix it. I did send off some touch up paint for him. He had purchased it for his Grandfather who once owned a service station and it had a sign on the side of the building that looked much like this.

I know, not a good photo of it but I was in a hurry.

A couple Nana’s Garden signs.

My garden has been putting out..some luscious tomatoes, these are a new heirloom variety for me called German Red.

Which I made into my oven roasted sauce

The addition of the Trombolina zucchini adds a richness.

My basil did very poorly this year but a friend gave me enough to make a bunch of pesto. I love my homemade pesto! I freeze it then wrap each little puck in plastic wrap.

I love to have a taste of summer in the dark of winter.

My flowers are still blooming away. I shall share more flowers soon.

So when I see what I have been able to accomplish it is not so disappointing after all.

Please come on in to see more of my signs and artwork.

I know I promised this a couple days ago and I said I would try to get it posted before now but as is typical, life happens.

I love this method of processing my garden fresh tomatoes as it is so easy and versatile. At least for me.

And this time around it was even easier as I had read on this post Roasted Tomato Sauce by An Oregon Cottage that said she doesn’t even bother to peel the tomatoes first.

Normally, I do the dip in hot water until the tomato peel begins to split and remove from water and put in a sink of ice water. The peel just slides off with ease but if one step can be successfully eliminated I am all for it. I am not afraid to eat some tomato peels.

I did use my strawberry huller to remove the core.

This little handy dandy tool saves a lot of time. This one is by Pampered Chef.
Measure about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a turkey roaster. I like using a pan with high sides to prevent spillage when I stir every half hour or so (smells to high heaven burning on the bottom of your oven, trust me)

I also quarter a yellow onion, peel about 5 or 6 cloves of garlic and press them into the tomatoes then put into a 400 degree oven.

This batch I altered a bit as I had some fresh jalapenos on hand, I did seed and remove the white membrane from them.

I had lots of Zucchetta squash on hand and decided to toss it in too. I just cut it into large chunks. It all cooks down easily enough without the added work of chopping stuff smaller.

I place it in a 400 degree oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I stir it all and put it back in for another 30 minutes and I stir again. I let it cook down in 30 minute increments until it is the consistency I want. These were all sauce tomatoes, Costoluto Genovese and San Romanos so it only took a couple hours, plus I did not have as many as I do at other times.

Here is the original recipe I altered to suit my needs.

4 pounds tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
1 large red onion (or 2-3 small), roughly chopped.
(OK to substitute yellow or other onions)
2 Jalepeno peppers (remove seeds for less heat)
16 cloves fresh garlic
1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 Tbs dry oregano
(or a bunch of fresh oregano & basil) Combine ingredients in a 9x13 inch pan.
Roast at 450°^F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until juices get thick.
Tomatoes will get a bit blackened and will smell wonderful.
Let cool, and run through a food mill to remove skins & seeds.
The resulting puree will be nice & thick; no need to reduce.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I don’t have a food mill so that is why I had previously skinned my tomatoes and I don’t mind the seeds at all so I never worried about that one either. Here is her variation to do a LOT of tomatoes at one time:

Roasted Tomato Sauce in Quantity

After my first taste of this sauce, I decided I wanted to make big batches. I switched to using my big turkey roasting pan. I put heaps of cut tomatoes into the pan, drizzle on a good cup of olive oil, and start roasting. As they cook down, I add a few more quarts of cut up tomatoes and drizzle on more olive oil. Along the way, I add several quarts each of chopped peppers and onions, 5 or 6 heads' worth of garlic cloves, and a handful of hot peppers. Toward the end, I throw in several handfuls of fresh basil leaves. This quantity takes 5-6 hours to cook down at 450'F. Give it a stir about every half hour so more tomatoes get a chance to blacken. From a batch that starts with 40 or 50 pounds of tomatoes, I generally end up with about a gallon of thick, rich sauce.

My sauce is more generic and toned down but it turns out wonderful. I have and will again add the oregano and basil, cooking them in before it is done and then it is ready as marinara when I pull it from the freezer. I do not have a pressure canner so mine has to go into the freezer. I freeze it in 2 cup batches. We use the marinara version for our Chicken Parmesan and Pizza sauce.

I also use the base version for my Chili Colorado recipe and it is a winner as well.
Here is how this batch looked when done cooking:

I ran it thru the blender and it was very rich and tasty, I froze it in 6 cup measures for Chili Colorado, the Zucchetta seemed to add a depth of flavor that surprised me and it was YUMMY.

Give this a try when you are loaded down with fresh tomatoes. It is well worth the effort.

I hope all are enjoying their weekend.