Preserved Marinara Sauce
Suddenly there are so many tomatoes that it’s time to can them for the off-season. I like to plant a dozen tomatoes, half are a small flavorful tomato such as an Early Girl and half a combination of Marzano or another Roma tomato, which offer a thicker sauce. You can get tomatoes from your local farmers market or u-pick farm if you aren’t growing them in your back yard. When our spring edition comes out, I’ll share how to grow dry-farmed tomatoes, which are the most intense and flavor balanced tomato.
See the video following the recipe below.
Suddenly there are so many tomatoes that it’s time to can them for the off season. I start by canning diced tomatoes in a cold pack, because these can be used for almost anything. By September, there are so many tomatoes that I start making Marinara Sauce and Ketchup and dried or roasted tomatoes. I always use a mixture of dry farmed Early Girls and Romas, but you can use any very flavorful tomato, mixed with a Marzano or Roma plum tomato to thicken the texture of the sauce. I like to use dry farmed tomatoes because the balance of acidity and dry farming them makes them extra sweet.
- 8 Lb Early Girl and Roma tomatoes
- 4 tbsp organic olive oil
- 1-2 heads of garlic
- 2 onions, minced opt
- 2 bunch fresh basil, chopped
- salt and pepper flakes to taste
- lemon juice
- leftover Pinot Noir
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You will need a boiling water bath canner and a box of pint jars with lids and seals.
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Prepare your tomatoes and basil by washing and removing any discolored parts.
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Start a pot of water, blanch the tomatoes, cut the stem out, cut in half and deseed.
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If you have a sieve, put the tomatoes through the sieve to attain a smooth sauce, if not chop the tomatoes.
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Put some olive oil in a large pot and heat, peel and mince the garlic, add to the oil insuring that it does not brown, but that it melts.
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Add the onion if using, stirring until transparent.
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Add the tomatoes and simmer. Because these are dry farmed tomatoes, there is much less moisture. Using Roma’s also decreases moisture. Pour in some red wine. The sauce thickens quickly.
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When the sauce is almost as thick as you want it, add the basil. Keep the sauce hot so that it will not shock your bottles.
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Have the water in your canner simmering. Fill clean pint jars to ½” of the lid. Top with enough lemon juice to cover. Clean the jar lip, Fasten the lid and immerse in the water. Slowly bring the water to a low boil. Process for 35 minutes.
There is nothing like a jar of “fresh” tomatoes or Marinara Sauce in the winter or spring. And there is no similarity to whatever you can buy in a can. This recipe is enough for 7 pints, which just fills the canner.
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