making tomatoe sauce from fresh tomatoes?

[elismom]

This seems like the one place I go to were someone always will have an answer for me so here it goes.
I have a friend and he wants to buy a bussel of tomatoes and make sauce.
We would be frezzing it, not the kind with the jars.
Has anyone done this and whats the best way and what do we add to them?
Thanks

 

[jipsy]

Make your sauce however you would normally make it with fresh tomatoes - any recipe you like will work.

Don't cook it down completely - then put in freezer bags and freeze.

When you begin to boil your water for your spaghetti, toss the freezer bag in the water. By the time the water's ready for the noodles, your sauce is heated through.

Here's a recipe:

Fresh tomatoes, chopped
Chopped onion
Minced garlic
Chopped fresh basil
Rosemary
Oregano
salt
pepper
sugar

All spices are to your taste. I even add a little vodka.

 

[aunties]

Mine is cooking right now. I like mine pretty simple. I pureed my tomatoes as I don't like chunky tomato sauce. I have an awesome contraption, for the lack of a better word, that separates the seeds and skin from the juice and the pulp. I also pureed garlic and onions. I add ground beef to mine. I brown that first. Chopped some fresh basil. I bring it to a boil and turn down the heat to low and simmer for several hours. I also added three cans of tomato paste to help thicken it a little. I will have about 3 gallons of sauce. I put it into the heavy-duty freezer bags and freeze. The house smells so good! Warning though - once you have made sauce from scratch, you will never want it in a jar again! Enjoy!

 

[denisem]

If you don't want to do the whole "sauce" routine, you can freeze whole tomatoes to be used later in sauce, chili, stews, soups, etc. I like the skins off, so here's the method:

Bring large pot of water to a boil - throw in whole washed tomatoes for 30 seconds. Fish them out & put into large bowl of ice water. Skins slip off easily - core and put into freezer bags (I "mush" em up a bit so they flatly stack).

 

[Bonnie40]

I do a couple of bushels down every year and thought I would pass along some tips...

Instead of blanching and coring the tomatoes I just wash and whiz them up in my food processor. Makes quick work and really, the skin is nutritionally the best part!

This year, I actually roasted my tomatoes and then made a rustic sauce with them. Cookie sheets with tomatoes, garlic, onions and peppers, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper. OMG were they ever good! I'm converted!

Takes tomatoes to a whole new level!

If you're going to do it the traditional way, cook down the tomatoes with onion, garlic, peppers and anything else you want to add (I sometimes add zucchini). I bag the sauce and freeze. Then when I want to make pasta, I just add ground beef and a small can of tomato paste to thicken it up a bit. Once you eat homemade, you'll never go back to store bought!

 

[MELSMICE]

Instead of blanching and coring the tomatoes I just wash and whiz them up in my food processor. Makes quick work and really, the skin is nutritionally the best part!

I don't blanch, but I do core them, then I just put them in the blender & puree them.

My recipe:

Pureed tomatoes
lots of tomatoe paste for thickness
garlic & minced onion sauteed & then pureed with a cup of the sauce
basil
1 cup sugar
salt
pepper
meatballs
italian sausage (I use hot & it really spices up the sauce)

After it has simmered a while add a little baking soda to decrease acid from the tomatoes. Continue to simmer all day.

Freezes great.

I also will freeze the pureed tomatoes to make more sauce at a later date.