Cooking Homemade Tomato Sauce

[Tinker'n'Fun]

For the first time ever, I have a huge surplus of tomatoes. (plus I will be pulling the green tomatoes this weekend and ripening them inside)

I need a great recipe for tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and or pizza sauce that can be frozen. Also, any recipes for roasted tomatoes would be appreciated. I am really excited as this is a first for me....

Recipes please to help counter the high cost of spaghetti sauce in our area.. Is this everywhere? Ragu is through the roof!

Side note, I don't like the seeds so suggestions to remove them is also needed. And yes I do know how to google for recipes, but I want ones that have been tried and are the "BEST" around. Thanks, Diane.

 

[bunnymkc]

I always like to boil them for 2 min to get the skins off..(don't like the skins in my sauce),I then put them in a food processor,add lots of garlic,fresh basil, red pepper,some olive oil,salt,pepper,italian seasoning (dried),sugar. saute some onions,add sauce,some red wine,bring to a boil and add a tsp of baking soda, it will bgubble up but get rid of the bitter taste of the tomatoes. also you could make a no-cook sauce by cutting the tomatoes,adding garlic,basil salt,red pepper,black pepper and leaving it in a bowl on the counter all day, cook some pasta and add the sauce to it..very tasty. any ? please ask..marianne

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Moving this to the Cooking forum to get the best of the tried & true recipes.

Good luck, OP! My DM always said that she thought the tomatoes multiplied in the dead of night because no matter how many quarts she put up, it never seemed to make a dent in the number of bushels sitting in the kitchen.

 

[pixiewings71]

I never boiled them but I do pour boiling water over them, makes them so easy to peel. Then I just mush them up (you can actually do it by hand or you can use a blender or food processer) and add spices and then freeze it. I don't measure so I don't know how much, I just do it to taste, comes out heavenly and if you've pureed it well enough there are no seeds to worry about. I actually cook my sauce before I freeze it tho, we generally use it the day I make it and then I freeze all the extra. So it's just tomatoes, add fresh garlic and onion that I've sauteed in a seperate pan, then add whatever other seasonings you like to taste.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Okay, I am confused...

So with the garlic, basil, etc, are we making a tomato sauce (as in base for recipes) or Spaghetti sauce?

 

[bunnymkc]

making a sauce for pasta. you can freeze this and add to other dishes as well such as steak pizzolia, chicken parm..etc as for pizza sauce just add a lot of oregeno to a cup of this sauce..got pizza sauce..

 

[piratesmate]

Sorry I'm late replying to this...I looked through all my recipe books yesterday (which took a couple hours LOL) trying to find where I'd written down my spaghetti sauce recipe. I haven't canned in about 15 yrs now. But tonight while checking for something else on my hard drive I found I'd already typed it out!

Spaghetti Sauce

1 basket paste tomatoes – no spots
1 onion
1 celery – entire thing, not a single stalk/rib
2 Tbl garlic powder or 1 whole garlic root
10 bay leaves
3 Tbl sugar
4 Tbl oregano
1 Tbl marjoram
1 Tbl thyme
48 oz tomato paste (canned from store)
½ c Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbl salt
1 Tbl black pepper

Cook 4 hours or until thick. (If you skip the canned tomato paste, it will take longer to cook down.) Process in a water bath for 20 min.

**NOTE: The basket size is what my grandfather always called a "peach basket" which I believe is a half peck. I've made it both with & without the tomato paste. It takes a LOT longer without it to get thick enough to suit me. You can also freeze this instead of canning it, but I think canning boils off some of the liquid as it always seems thicker when canned. (Applesauce is like that too.)

As far as peeling & de-seeding...I've done it the ways described above...but only twice. Then I gave up & bought myself a Squeezo (Victorio Strainer is another brand) and it was well worth what I paid for it!! You quarter the tomatoes, toss them in & turn the crank...voila! Seeds & skin go one way & the good stuff another way. It's awesome! Works great on apples for applesauc and grapes & raspberries for jelly.(No, I don't own stock in the company. I'm just very lazy when it comes to canning & this was such a time-saver! )

 

[pampam]

I use an easier way to skin my tomatoes. Wash, cut off the stems and put in the freezer. The next day or whenever, take the frozen tomatoes out of the freezer and put in the sink with hot water. Pick up a frozen tomato out of the water and squish it with your hand. The whole skin will stay in your hand and the frozen tomato will plop into your pot.

 

[MazdaUK]

must try that!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Thanks everyone, I am going to venture to the tomato jungle this afternoon to get the rest of them, then figure out how many I really have. I have never canned, so I am going to the freezer for my final product....

I will pick up the rest of the ingredients this weekend and get cooking...