What do you do when your garden is overflowing with tomatoes? You make homemade tomato sauce! I love to can food. I love to see all the jars lined up! If you like canning you might like these delicious canning recipes: Homemade Apple Pie Filling and Knock of Harry & David Pepper Relish. Now, I must admit making canned tomato sauce was a bit of work! So be prepared!
How to make homemade tomato sauce
First pick your tomatoes! You will need 22 1/2 pounds! Yes, it is alot!
Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe
Yield – 7 – 10 pints (depends on how thick you cook down the sauce)
22 1/2 pounds tomatoes
3 cups chopped onions
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoons oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
3 piece bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (1 teaspoon if you like it slightly spicy)
1/4 cup red wine
Bottled lemon juice, 1 tablespoon per pint jar
Wash tomatoes under cold water and drain. Remove core and blossom ends. Cut into quarters; set aside.
Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil in a large stock pot. The pot needs to be big enough for all the tomatoes so I actually used the stock pot for our turkey fryer.
Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, marjoram, bay leaves, black pepper, salt, crushed red pepper and sugar. Bring to a simmer then simmer 20 minutes, stirring, it may take some time for the tomatoes to reach a simmering temperature. Go slow so you don’t burn the bottom. Remove bay leaves.
Pureé tomatoes using a food mill to remove peels and seeds.
Place puree into a large pot and cook uncovered over medium heat until reduced by about half and sauce has thickened. Stir often to keep puree from sticking and burning. It took me about 8 hours for my sauce to reduce.
Sterilize jars
Remove from water. Add 1 tbsp bottled lemon juice to each pint jar.
Fill hot jars with the hot tomato sauce leaving 1/2 inch space at the top.
Wipe rims of jars and place on lids and adjust rings to fingertip- tight.
Place jars on a rack in pot with water. Water needs to cover jars by 1 inch. I used the new Ball Waterbath Canner.
Process jars in boiling water for 35 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Remove from jars. Do not tighten bands. Allow jars to cool for 12 hours. You should hear pinging as the jars seal. After 12 hours test seals. Label and store jars.
I am so excited about how I made the labels! I will share on Thursday!
For more canning recipes try this is easy strawberry jam.
Immersion blender will not remove the seeds and skin. If you don’t mind then by all means you can use it. The reason for the lemon juice is that it is used as a preservative.
Great looking recipe! Can I use an immersion blender to puree the cooked tomatoes instead of a food mill? And, why the lemon juice in the jars? Thanks!
This recipe is courtesy of K-Paul’s restaurant from Paul himself. He gave it to me personally and has never published it. It it to die for. Make sure you have plenty of crusty bread to sop up the sauce.
New Orleans Barbequed Shrimp
2 lbs Large 16-20 ct ½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 T olive oil 2 T chili sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce 1 T fresh lemon juice
1 lemon with pith removed sliced 2 cloves garlic minced
1 T fresh parsley ¾ t ground red pepper
¾ t liquid smoke ½ t paprika
½ t oregano ¼ t Tobassco
Salt & pepper to taste French bread
Wash shrimp, divine and pat dry then spread in a shallow pan. Combine remaining ingredients, except bread in a small saucepan and let simmer 10 minutes. Pour over shrimp & mix thoroughly. Cover & refrigerate 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake shrimp, turning frequently, until they just turn pink, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve in soup bowls with chunks of French bread. In Cajun country (Southern Louisiana) the bread is dipped into the sauce an eaten along with the shrimp. Serves 8 as an appetizer.
Your tomato sauce looks real good. I’m looking forward to trying it.
This looks delicious, and from the recipe I see it will have many uses this winter. Can’t wait to try it but in this part of the country the tomato season has not been good. Hope we have a late season as they are green.