Well, it’s that time again. Where in the world did the summer go? One minute you are looking forward to lazy days of sun, sand and water, then before your know it, the kids are back to school and I am once again immersed in a sea of tomatoes to can into traditional Italian marinara sauce that first week of September.
I know some people wonder why put myself through all the trouble of making marinara sauce. There are many quality products out there to buy right off the shelf without all the mess and fuss. The process of doing this many tomatoes is not for the weak of heart. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience for the mess that has to be endured. As my son says “our kitchen has turned into a tomato processing factory”.
So, before you jump in, make sure you have set adequate time aside and know the end result of what you are looking for. This is something you can count on taking a few days of time, at least. Reasons for doing it should be the satisfaction it will bring you all year long, not just saving a few dollars. Unrealistic expectations will result in disappointment and a lot of waste. The tomatoes are best picked very red and ripe and don’t take to sitting long in bushel bags on top of one another.
We picked four “very generous” bushels this year. Closer to 5 as the bags were stuffed full! First priority is always the sauce. However, we always have enough left over for salsa, my grandmothers chilli sauce recipe, and maybe some plain canned whole tomatoes for chilli’s and soups if we are trying to use the last of them up. It pains my husband to throw one tomato to waste so I am inclined to fight to the bitter end, well beyond exhaustion!
I think I mentioned before that my husband is Italian. He grew up with pasta, pasta ALL the time. He has made compromises over the years since I am more from a potato loving kind of family, pasta is not quite such a prevalent part of his diet now but certainly not omitted. One thing I certainly don’t ask him to compromise on is reverting to store made sauce. In our home, I do most of the cooking. When I say most, I mean 99% most. I just simply like to cook. However, I can honestly say, that, this is the one thing my husband taught me how to make. And I’m willing to admit it in writing here! Whew that was hard. 😉
Now I am going to post the recipe for 1 large stock pot of sauce. I recently did 4 of these for canning and got approximately 56, 1 litre jars. (One pot will yield approximately 14, 1 litre mason jars) You can certainly adjust the recipe for your own families usage or shrink it right down to a single meal serving. The recipe itself is as simple as can be. The work is in the tomatoes. In my opinion, well worth the trouble!
Here are a couple of tools for the job….
Traditional Italian Marinara sauce
Traditional Italian marina sauce. Simple fresh ingredients for an authentic Italian experience.
Ingredients
- 1 bushel freshly picked ripe roma tomatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head large garlic
- 3 stalks celery
- 3 carrots
- 1/2 onion
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
- 6 tbsp salt
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup good red wine
- 14 1 litre mason jars, or more of a smaller size
- 1 lemon
Instructions
- Place bushel of tomatoes in a large sink of water to clean
- Using a food processor chop carrots, celery and onion together
- Start the process of removing skins and seeds from tomatoes by either a quick boiling water bath or broiling under the broiler for a few minutes. One batch at time.
- Allow to cool slightly before handling. Using a food strainer, I use my KitchenAid fruit and vegetable strainer attachment but you can purchase these as a manual stand alone if you don't have a KitchenAid mixer. Start to process the tomatoes through the strainer.
- Keep processing to fill a large bowl. If the waste side is very wet, you can run through a second time to dry out the waste. The sauce side will be pure tomato meat. No seeds and skins.
- Place olive oil in your large stock pot and start to sauté the celery, carrots and onion finely chopped.
- When softened, add your first batch of strained tomatoes and simmer down for several hours.
- Continue adding the strained tomatoes until the pot is completely full
- Add the finely chopped basil, garlic, red wine, salt and bay leaves. Continue to simmer.
- After sauce has thickened to desired consistency (a least 2 hours) remove bay leaves.
- Using clean, sanitized mason jars. Carefully fill to bottom of the rim.
- Give each filled jar a squirt of fresh lemon juice and seal immediately with cleaned or new lids and seals.
- Process in pressure cooker or boil jars at least 30 minutes
Notes
Disclaimer: The canning process can be dangerous if food is not handled correctly. Safest method is to use a pressure canner, however, I have used the lemon juice and boiling for several years now and have never had any issues. It is imperative to add acidity to the sauce after adding the the higher ph foods to the tomatoes. If you are uncomfortable with he process, you can just can the tomatoes and make the marinara from the strained canned tomatoes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g