one day last week, my daily garden harvest resulted in this.
in all fairness, this was quite an abundant day for our little garden, but as the summer progresses, abundance such as this is becoming more and more common.
i decided it was a good time to make some tomato sauce. i discovered a really simple and relatively quick way to make homemade tomato sauce when i was inundated with someone else's "abundance" a few years ago. i've enjoyed using it so much that i thought i'd pass it along...
i can't give you exact amounts here, because everyone's produce is different sizes. i figured the pictures would help, though.
Roughly chop enough tomatoes to fill a 15 x 11 sheet pan. you can also do 2 pans at once. on top of the tomatoes add one onion and one pepper and about 3 cloves of garlic (you can adjust according to your preference) all roughly chopped drizzle with olive oil and season with coarse salt and pepper. i also add some basil and oregano (fresh or dried).
place the pan in a preheated oven (350 works well) for about 30 minutes to til the vegetables begin to break down. they should look like this.
after allowing the veggies to cool for a bit, place them in a blender. i've learned from experience that putting the tomato mixture in a spouted bowl first will save a lot of mess and hassle, even if it means cleaning another item.
the veggies will only need to pulse in the blender for a few seconds. when blended, they'll look like this! the other bonus of using a large measuring bowl is that it is easier to tell how much finished product you end up with.
pour the sauce into a large ziploc bag and carefully remove as much air as possible. label with the contents and amount. lay the bag flat in your freezer, and don't forget it's in there the next time you need sauce!
ps) forgot to add that i often sprinkle some sugar into my final product depending on the flavor of the tomatoes. another trick is to season your sauce further once you are ready to use it. tweaking it to make it your own seems to be the key!
looks good. I've been looking for a good recipe. I don't like tomatoes unless they are made into sauce and my dad always has a ton of tomatoes from his garden. Now I can use them to make sauce. Can't wait to try it. I love that bowl you used too. Where did you find such a nice bowl? lol
ReplyDeletewow. That's awesome. I need a veggie garden...stat! haha. Maybe next summer you can come help me!
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteThis looks DELICIOUS! I've been working on perfecting my tomato sauce recipe for quite some time (that uses a similar technique to this) and never thought to use peppers! WOW. What a great idea! This looks so good and so easy. I'm definitely gonna try it!!
Thank you for sharing it. And, I love your pictures to go along with the recipe! :)
Can't wait to try that recipe! We were overzealous in our tomato planting and are inundated with the delicious things but can't eat them fast enough. This will be great all winter long!
ReplyDeletei added a "ps" at the end. just realized i forgot to mention that i often add some sugar at the end (unless the tomatoes i'm using are really sweet.) sorry!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! Glad all of your hard work is paying off!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could grow stuff in my backyard so bad after seeing your picture! Nothing of the vegetable variety has ever managed to live back there. Not enough sun, I think.
ReplyDeleteYummy! If I ever have an abundance of veggies, I'm totally making this. So easy and what a great way to get veggies into kids (or me). I'll eat anything with red sauce.
ReplyDeletelooks really good. nice to have good tasting stuff to pull out of the freezer and fun to use when you know you grew the veggies.
ReplyDelete