GranNini's Spaghetti Sauce Extraordinaire
The only good thing that has come from this excessive heat wave this summer, is a bumper crop of amazing, gorgeous tomatoes in my wee garden.
This year, after making several dozen batches of fresh salsa and guacamole, and STILL having way too many tomatoes left over, I decided to try my hand at making tomato sauce & paste from scratch. I typically make my sauce using a combination of the following:
But this year, I transformed this to this
So that I could transform my tomato sauce to this:
GranNini's Spaghetti Sauce Extraordinaire
So here's how I did it:
First things first: I washed all of my lovely tomatoes.
I cut 2/3 of the tomatoes into quarters and placed onto two large jellyroll pans. I cut an onion into large chunks and placed that with each of the jellyroll pans full of tomatoes and baked at 375 for about 25 minutes.
I removed the onions and put them into a bowl. (I'll add these back in to the simmering tomato sauce later on.)
Then I took my baked tomatoes and put them into my food mill. I stirred until the only things left were the seeds and the skins. (In the picture below on the right, there is still a lot of juice left)
This is my new toy. The Oxo Good Grips Food Mill. I love it.
The foodmill sits right on top of my other large pot, and I stirred the juiced directly into it.
Keep stirring until nothing is left but the seeds and skins. And do NOT forget to scrape all the tomato goodness from the bottom of the foodmill. Yum!
Then I poured all of this lovely sauce back into the jellyroll pan, and baked it at the oven (375 F) for 2 hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so.
The sauce will thicken up considerably and reduce in volume. Mmmm!
Meanwhile, with the remaining 1/3 of the tomatoes, I cut them into quarters and placed them into a large sauce pan, and put them on to simmer for about 12 minutes.
Again, I poured the sauce into my foodmill to remove all seeds and skins, and strained the sauce into my large saucepan.
I poured all the leftover onions from the jelly roll pans into the sauce. Then I allowed the sauce to simmer for the remaining 1 1/2 hours or so that the purée in the oven was baking. For the finishing touches, I added 1/3 of a cup of red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt to the tomatoes to bring out the flavors.
When the purée was finished in the oven, I scraped out it of the jellyroll pan and poured it directly into the saucepan of simmering tomato sauce.
Now, here's how I transformed my tomato sauce to spaghetti sauce:
In my second large saucepan, I sautéed onions, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and garlic until they were all soft and smelled yummy. About 5 minutes or so. In the past I have also added green beans, carrots, and celery to my sautéed veggies. But alas, food allergies have kept my sauces and recipes clean and simple (but never boring!).
Then I added the sautéed veggies to my sauce, I added spices (oregano, basil, a bay leaf, salt & pepper to taste) and allowed the flavors to meld for about 1/2 an hour.
Then I used my jedi mind trick to transform the sauce into a smooth texture. Turns out my kiddos hate spaghetti sauce with texture. They also hate zucchini and eggplant. BUT, when I blend it all together, they have NO idea there is zucchini or eggplant in it, and they love the smooth and flavorful sauce.
So off to the blender went the sauce, and voilà! my lovely homemade spaghetti sauce was finished!!
I poured my sauce into containers and froze them.
Now, is my tomato sauce as tasty as Hunt's? Yes! It was quite the yum. AND, it made my spaghetti sauce taste all that much better, since my sauce was made from fresh tomatoes and contains no weird ingredients you can't pronounce. Was it worth all the time & effort? Maybe, maybe not. BUT, my spaghetti sauce has nothing in it I'm allergic to, and no artificial ingredients. And, I have the added bonus of being able to make homemade lasagna and spaghetti throughout the year quick as a wink, without having to slave over the stove for an hour making the sauce from scratch.
Recipes:
Tomato Sauce
A whole mess o'tomatoes, washed and quartered.
(I used roughly 75 small homegrown tomatoes. See photo for reference.)
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1/3 cup red wine vineagar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt (more if desired)
Directions:
* Wash, cut, and quarter all the tomatoes. Place 1/3 of the tomatoes onto a large jelly roll pan, and repeat with another 1/3 of the tomatoes. Add one onion to each pan. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 375 F.
* Place 1/3 of the tomatoes in a large pot and simmer for 13 minutes, or until the tomatoes have mostly turned to liquid.
* Place a food mill over a large pot or bowl.
* Pour one batch of the tomatoes (skins, seeds and all) into the food mill and grind completely until nothing is left but the skins and seeds. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the food mill.
*Repeat the previous step until all of the tomatoes have been run through the food mill.
* Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into one of the jelly roll pans and return to the oven. Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into the other jelly roll pan and return to the oven. Bake for 2 hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so, at 320 F.
* Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce back into the large pot and cook on simmer for two hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so.
*Combine all of the sauces together into one large pot. Add in vinegar, sugar, and salt to taste.
At this point, the sauce may be used, canned or frozen. I, however, like to transform it directly into spaghetti sauce and store it that way. I don't tend to use tomato sauce for anything except spaghetti sauce, but some people like to use tomato sauce for other recipes.
Helpful hint: If you have much less time, or wish to use up much less effort and energy, simply cut & quarter all the tomatoes, pop them in a giant pot on the stove, simmer for 14 minutes. Then run them through the food mill, return to the stove to simmer and bubble for 2 hours. Then add your vinegar, sugar, and salt, and you're done. MUCH easier. MUCH less mess. MUCH less time consuming. I take the road less traveled because I like the added subtle flavor of the roasted tomatoes. I'm not sure it's REALLY worth the extra effort for such a large vat of sauce, but I only do this twice a year, so I go the extra mile. Or two.
Directions:
In a large pot, pour in olive oil and garlic and simmer over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add in each of the veggies and stir frequently. Sautée until veggies are soft and fragrant. Pour in tomato sauce and stir. Allow the sauce to simmer for 1/2 an hour. Add in spices and turn heat down to simmer for another 10 minutes.
(optional:) Ladle the sauce into a blender in small batches, and pour the smooth sauce into a large bowl. Continue to blend and pour until all the sauce has been blended completely.
Taste sauce and add salt & pepper as needed. Enjoy!
* * * * *
Recipes:
Tomato Sauce
A whole mess o'tomatoes, washed and quartered.
(I used roughly 75 small homegrown tomatoes. See photo for reference.)
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1/3 cup red wine vineagar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt (more if desired)
Directions:
* Wash, cut, and quarter all the tomatoes. Place 1/3 of the tomatoes onto a large jelly roll pan, and repeat with another 1/3 of the tomatoes. Add one onion to each pan. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 375 F.
* Place 1/3 of the tomatoes in a large pot and simmer for 13 minutes, or until the tomatoes have mostly turned to liquid.
* Place a food mill over a large pot or bowl.
* Pour one batch of the tomatoes (skins, seeds and all) into the food mill and grind completely until nothing is left but the skins and seeds. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the food mill.
*Repeat the previous step until all of the tomatoes have been run through the food mill.
* Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into one of the jelly roll pans and return to the oven. Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into the other jelly roll pan and return to the oven. Bake for 2 hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so, at 320 F.
* Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce back into the large pot and cook on simmer for two hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so.
*Combine all of the sauces together into one large pot. Add in vinegar, sugar, and salt to taste.
At this point, the sauce may be used, canned or frozen. I, however, like to transform it directly into spaghetti sauce and store it that way. I don't tend to use tomato sauce for anything except spaghetti sauce, but some people like to use tomato sauce for other recipes.
Helpful hint: If you have much less time, or wish to use up much less effort and energy, simply cut & quarter all the tomatoes, pop them in a giant pot on the stove, simmer for 14 minutes. Then run them through the food mill, return to the stove to simmer and bubble for 2 hours. Then add your vinegar, sugar, and salt, and you're done. MUCH easier. MUCH less mess. MUCH less time consuming. I take the road less traveled because I like the added subtle flavor of the roasted tomatoes. I'm not sure it's REALLY worth the extra effort for such a large vat of sauce, but I only do this twice a year, so I go the extra mile. Or two.
Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 batch of tomato sauce
-or-
If you're not making your own tomato sauce, then use
1 can (28 oz) Hunt's tomato sauce
1 can (10 oz) Hunt's tomato purée
1 can (10 oz) Hunt's tomato paste
1 onion, large, diced
1 zucchini, medium, diced
1/2 an eggplant, skinned (I just slice the purple part off), diced
6 mushrooms, diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and squished in garlic press
2 Tablespoons olive oil
bay leaf
2 Tablespoons oregano
2 Tablespoons basil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
In a large pot, pour in olive oil and garlic and simmer over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add in each of the veggies and stir frequently. Sautée until veggies are soft and fragrant. Pour in tomato sauce and stir. Allow the sauce to simmer for 1/2 an hour. Add in spices and turn heat down to simmer for another 10 minutes.
(optional:) Ladle the sauce into a blender in small batches, and pour the smooth sauce into a large bowl. Continue to blend and pour until all the sauce has been blended completely.
Taste sauce and add salt & pepper as needed. Enjoy!
* * * * *
