Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Sauce Making Season

Yes that's right, it's sauce making season!  The best season of all.

As a child I loved the time we spent together as a family helping to preserve those tomatoes so we can have fresh tasting sauce all year long.  And now, I can share this family tradition with my children.

These photos show how we work hard one day taking raw tomatoes and turning them into delicious sauce.

These tomatoes have been boiled until they are soft enough to get crushed.



This tomato grinder costs over $300.00 but is worth every penny!

Here we have the chopped onions, garlic, red peppers & fresh basil sauteing in some olive oil. 

Constantly stirring the sauce so it does not burn.

The jarring process.

Voila!  Homemade sauce in a jar!

Now you may not want to go out and buy all this expensive equipment for yourself but you might be interested in trying to make a small batch of homemade sauce.

Here are the ingredients I use to make my sauce whether its a small batch or enough for the whole year:

              Olive oil
              Fresh Roma Tomatoes
              Red Sheppard Peppers
              Onions
              Garlic
              Fresh Basil
              Sea Salt

I simply chop the onions, garlic, red peppers and fresh basil in my food processor and then sautee them in some olive oil.  Once these fresh ingredients have become softened and translucent then its time to add the freshly pureed tomatoes.

Chances are you do not own a tomato grinder.  The tomato grinder in the above picture purees the tomatoes and spits out the tomato skins.  What you can do instead is boil the raw tomatoes and quickly place them in ice water to remove the skins and then proceed to blend them in a blender or food processor.  If that's too much work for you then you can purchase canned or jarred raw tomatoes from your local grocery store.  If you decide to go for the canned tomatoes be sure to purchase either diced or whole plum tomatoes.  I have tried using the canned crushed tomatoes in the past and have not been happy with the taste of the sauce.

Okay so you've added the tomato puree and now all that is left to do is add some sea salt.  Let it simmer for at least one hour.  If you plan on making a large batch using fresh tomatoes and want to jar the sauce, here is what we do.  While the sauce is still simmering on the stove start pouring it into the mason jars, tighten lid on and then place the jar upside down.  Don't ask me why we do this.  I'm just following the instructions that were handed down to me.  The heat then causes the rubber in the lid to form a seal and you can store this sauce in your pantry for a long time.

This is a very simple sauce and you can add many more spices if you like.  Some people like to add oregano, black pepper, cayenne, bay leaves, etc.  Feel free to experiment as you wish and come up with your own sauce recipe!



  

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