Friday, July 30, 2010

Spaghetti Sauce

Last week tomatoes were on sale so Jennie and I decided to try something new and can spaghetti sauce. I read the recipe and was a little nervous about how much work it was going to take, but we thought it would be a good experience for us. First we put the tomatoes in hot water until the skins split then into icy water. Then we peeled, cored and quartered them. Next we put the tomato pieces (and juice) into a pot and brought them to a boil for 20 minutes. While the tomatoes were cooking, we diced onions and peppers and sauteed them with oil and garlic. After the tomatoes boiled for the 20 minutes we were supposed to put them through a sieve or strainer, but we wanted our sauce a little chunky so we put them in the blender for a little bit. Then we added the sauteed veggies and some spices/herbs and put that mixture back in the pot to cook down. This took FOREVER! It probably should have taken longer, but after more than and hour we gave up with that step thinking that it would never get thick enough and poured it into jars and put them in the canner. 30 pounds of tomatoes was supposed to make 9 pints, but 25 pounds made 20 pints. Jennie's family had it for dinner last night. It was runny, but no one complained of the taste.
Here's a picture of me stirring the tomatoes hoping that they will thicken.
Here's a picture of the final product.

2 comments:

  1. So you said it tasted good, but you never said if you felt that it was worth the effort...

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  2. When you open it and heat it up you could always add some tomato paste. Totally awesome by the way I just might have to try this!

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