8/30/2009

Spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes: Take two

Last year on a whim I bought a Roma food mill and made my own spaghetti sauce from fresh roma tomatoes.  While the sauce was decent, it wasn't anywhere near as wonderful as I'd hoped.  The food mill performed much better than I ever expected though, and it's become one of my favorite appliances.  How neat is is to plop whole tomatoes (or cut in half if they're big) into the hopper, turn a crank, and the tomato pulp and juice are quickly separated from the skin and seeds.  I was skeptical that it would work as advertised, but it really is that easy.  Definitely the best $45 I ever spent on a kitchen item.

This year, armed with an actual recipe instead of trying to fake my way through, I bought 10 lbs of tomatoes and tried again.

My results were WAY better.  My sauce is still not as thick as I would like, but the flavor is excellent.  I probably should have added an extra can of tomato paste, but I was afraid to because I liked the flavor and didn't want to ruin it.

Here's my recipe:

10 lbs of ripe roma (paste) tomatoes
1-2 16 oz can of tomato paste (or more if desired)
1 medium-large yellow onion
1 medium red pepper
3/4 head of garlic
1/2 c olive oil
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried basil
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

You can add other veggies if you choose, but no cheese if you plan to water bath can.

Process tomatoes in a food mill to remove seeds, skin, and stems.  Cook puree and juice on a low boil for 3 hrs. 
After 3 hrs, add tomato paste until desired consistency is reached.  Stir in brown and white sugar, olive oil, spices, and salt and pepper.  Add finely chopped peppers, onions, and garlic.  Cook an additional 30 - 60 minutes, stirring and tasting often.  Adjust spices and veggies to desired taste.

Once sauce is finished, pour into canning cars, seal, and process.  Water bath 15 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts.  Yields approximately 5 quarts of sauce.

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