We doubled the size of our veggie garden this year in preparation for... *gestures broadly*
We've got 19 tomato plants this year; I think the most we've ever had was 14 at a time. So, we've got heaps of tomatoes coming on. Our typical places to procure tomato starts were severely limited this year due to Covid, so we made due with the tomato starts we could find. I didn't get as many paste tomatoes as I'd hoped, but we're going to make due with the varieties we did get, and it's going to be fine.
In previous years, I've canned up red sauce for pasta, but these days, we aren't using as much pasta as we used to. That may be because we're empty-nesters now! But a friend shared her grandmother's pizza crust recipe with us last year, and we make that fairly regularly now, so I figured making a pizza sauce would get us further this year.
This recipe will get you about 6 pints or 12 half-pints. I like to can these up in half-pints because we can't typically use a pint of pizza sauce before it goes bad.
First, some notes about tomatoes. Paste tomatoes will be your best bet here, but use what you've got, and the flavor will be amazing. I believe that all 19 varieties made it into this sauce this year and we are loving it. Also, I didn't bother roasting the cherry tomatoes. I was running out of cookie sheets and also I didn't want to bother with slicing them in half. I just popped them right into the blender with the rest of the ingredients to give them a head start softening.
Let's get going with the recipe!
7 lbs tomatoes, washed, cored, sliced in half
3 tablespoons dried onion flakes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (I grind this in a mortar/pestle with the salt)
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
1- 6oz can of tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place your sliced tomatoes cut-side down on cookie sheets lined with parchment. Place them in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes. They will get roast-y toast-y and you'll see the sugars start to caramelize and the skins start to blister.
In the meantime, toss any cherry tomatoes you're using into the blender with the remaining ingredients and make a nice puree with them. Add this puree to a stock pot.
When you pull your tomatoes out of the oven, your kitchen is going to smell heavenly. If you can pull the blistered skins off of any of them without taking the flesh with you, go ahead and do that. You can add the skins to your compost pile, or dehydrate them to make a powder to add to other dishes.
In batches, puree the roasted tomatoes in your blender and add them to the stock pot. Work very carefully because it's hot!
Once all the tomatoes are pureed, it's time to cook it down! Cook it down on a medium heat, stirring regularly, for 30-60 minutes until it's a thick as you like.
Add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid to EACH of your half-pint jars. (Use 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice PER JAR if you don't have citric acid.) Add the pizza sauce to the jars, leaving a 1/2" headspace. Wipe the rims, place the lid and the ring (finger-tight) and then place them in your canner.
Process half-pints for 35 minutes. Watch your water levels and add more boiling water to keep the water at least 1" above the level of the lids.
Turn off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and place on a towel in a draft-free spot where they will be undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Check your seals and enjoy!
