Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Sauce

The tomatoes are finally coming into their own and I have way too many of them! I've decided to make some tomato sauce from the recipe found in Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

10 quarts Tomato Puree (about 30 lbs tomatoes)
4 Large Onions, Chopped
1 Cup dried Basil
1/2 Cup Honey
4 Tbs. dried Oregano
3 Tbs. Salt
2 Tbs. Ground Lemon Peel
2 Tbs. Thyme
2 Tbs. Garlic Powder
2 Tbs. Dried Parsley
2 tsps. Pepper
2 tsps. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

Soften Onions in a heavy 3 gallon pot. Add small amount of water if necessary, but no oil. Add pureed tomatoes and all seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 2 to 3 hours, until sauce is thickened, as desired. Stir frequently, especially at end, to avoid buring. Freeze leftovers in easy to use containers.

First, part of the ingredients: Tomatoes (10 lbs worth in the large gray bowl, and onions from my garden) I had to do a 1/3rd of the recipe because it calls for 30 lbs!!!

I chopped everything up, putting the tomatoes in the food processor, then got them going on the stove, with a few dried herbs added (can you believe that cinnamon is an ingredient in tomato sauce!?!). It started out kinda...pink.
The end result was a nice, lovely red with a deep, rich flavor. Very much unlike any tomato sauce I've ever tasted.
It made up 10 1.75 cup containers and 2 2.5 containers full of sauce, all nicely stored in the freezer, ready to pour over pasta or to make pizza whenever I want! Yum! I can't wait!