Pizza Sauce

September 16, 2021 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Sunday of this week I canned two bushels of tomatoes, some diced and some stewed yielding 92 pints. Yesterday I turned a half bushel of roma (plum) tomatoes into pizza sauce. The roma tomatoes make great sauce because they are a nice meaty tomato with less seeds. I also find them a bit easier to peel. A half bushel of tomatoes fits perfectly in my large canning kettle. Since it takes several hours of simmering for the tomatoes to cook down, in my kitchen it is only practical to do a half bushel at a time. We eat a lot of dishes with tomatoes throughout the year and home-canned tomatoes and sauces taste so good! I wish I could say the tomatoes all came from our garden, but living in a forest doesn’t allow for enough sun to grow produce. There are several nice farm markets in our area that sell Michigan produce so they are my go to.

The first job is getting the tomatoes ready for saucing. That’s the worst part! They need to be cored, peeled, and diced. If you haven’t peeled tomatoes before you want to wash and core them first. Have a large pot of simmering water ready and put several tomatoes in for a couple minutes. Remove the tomatoes to an ice water bath, slide the skins off, and dice. Repeat and repeat and repeat.

Ingredients:

1 bushel of roma tomatoes peeled and diced

2 large onions (about 4 cups) diced

2 heads of garlic peeled

4-5 carrots finely diced

1/2 cup olive oil

3 T dried basil

3 T dried oregano

Red pepper flakes to taste

Salt to taste

Add the olive oil, onions, carrots, and garlic cloves to the kettle and cook over medium heat until they are softened but not browned, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Add your spices and a generous amount of salt.

Mix well and simmer away. Stir often to make sure there is no scorching on the bottom of your pan. After about an hour of simmering and stirring use an immersion blender to break up the tomatoes and vegetables.

Continue simmering until your sauce reaches the desired consistency. It took about 4 hours for my sauce. I used the immersion blender several more times after the initial mix to make sure all of the tomatoes were broken down. Sample your sauce during the cooking process and add more seasoning or salt to taste.

Once your sauce has reached the desired consistency you will want to start the canning process. Make sure that all of your jars have been washed with hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher. Put your jars and lids in the hot water bath and begin filling your hot jars with the hot sauce, adding 1/4 tsp of citric acid per pint. Process your jars in the hot water bath for 35 minutes. Remove the jars to a heavy towel and allow them to cool completely, best overnight. Repeat until all of your sauce has been jarred and processed. Once the jars have cooled I remove the rings and shelve them.

Since there was some sauce left in my kettle we had pizza for dinner last night.

I like a thin, crispy crust. Pizza toppings included italian sausage, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, and peperoncini. Homemade crust, homemade sauce…doesn’t get much better.

NOTE: The ingredients in this sauce are definitely not limited to pizza. The sauce can be used in all kinds of applications including pasta dishes, on a meatloaf, or chicken or eggplant Parmesan. Also, you can modify the spices per your personal preference. The carrots in this recipe help to thicken the sauce, and also add some sweetness without the addition of sugar. And maybe eating more pizza will help your eyesight. 🙂

There was one special, heart shaped tomato in this peck!

Making your own sauce is not difficult. If you have the time and the inclination you’ll be glad that you did.

Pizza Sauce

September 13, 2020 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

It’s once again canning season. I was really excited to find Roma tomatoes this year. I had already canned two bushels for 90 pints of stewed tomatoes and diced tomatoes. We love dishes with tomatoes and I go through a LOT of them every year. But Romas make really good sauce so I had to buy another peck. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. Does anyone else remember that?? It’s from a very corny Doris Day song. I’ve made pizza sauce in prior years, but my friend Jane adds carrots to hers for natural sweetness and a nice consistency, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I’m a little more heavy handed on seasoning than she is, but I really liked the addition of the carrots. If you’re fortunate enough to find Romas I’d recommend using those but, if not, regular tomatoes will also make a fine sauce.

Ingredients:

16-18 cups of peeled, cored, and diced tomatoes

2 cups of finely diced carrots

1 large onion diced

6-8 cloves of garlic

3 T olive oil

3 T oregano

3 T basil

1 T garlic powder

1 T pepper flakes

1 T fennel seed

3 T kosher salt

1/8th tsp citric acid per cup of sauce

The first thing you have to do is core, peel and dice all the tomatoes. One peck made two batches of sauce.

Peel and dice the carrots, dice the onion and mince the garlic.

Add the olive oil to a deep heavy kettle. Sweat the onion, garlic, and tomatoes for a couple minutes.

Add the tomatoes and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce reduces and begins to thicken.

Add the spices and the salt.

Continue simmering, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reached your desired consistency. It’s not a fast process so you have to be patient. My sauce simmered for a couple of hours. I used an immersion blender during the simmering process.

Once the sauce has reached the desired consistency you can start filling your hot jars and getting them ready for the water bath. I used some cup and a half jars as well as some one cup jars. Add 1/8th tsp of citric acid per each cup of sauce as you jar it. Carefully wipe the rims of the jars before putting the lids and rings on. Process in a water bath for 30 minutes. Allow your jars to cool on a towel or mat for at least 12 hours before storing them.

I saved a little more than a cup of sauce from the last batch and made us a pizza for dinner.

NOTE: Let your own palate be your guide with the seasonings. Taste while your sauce is cooking. You can use pint jars if you prefer but I think the smaller jars are perfect for a single pizza. If you do use pint jars increase the processing time to 40 minutes. This sauce is also good to use on pasta, a meatball sub, for dipping cheese bread, or on a veggie crepe. Unlimited possibilities!

Pizza Sauce

September 18, 2016 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Last year when I was canning tomatoes I decided to make salsa. As usual, I did more than necessary and have plenty of salsa left for this year. This season I made some of my tomatoes into pizza sauce. There is no pizza delivery anywhere remotely close to where we live so when we are craving pizza I need to make it myself. The sauce is relatively easy to make. Cooking down the tomatoes is the most time consuming part so you need to be patient or you will end up with watery sauce. The kitchen smells so good when this sauce is cooking.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes , approximately 4 quarts peeled and diced

2 T olive oil

1 Large Onion diced

6 or more cloves of garlic (I used more)

2 T oregano

2 T basil

2 T celery seed

4 T chopped fresh parsley

2 T salt

2 T granulated sugar

cracked pepper to taste

1/4 tsp citric acid per pint of sauce

Core, peel and dice the tomatoes. Bring a large kettle of water to a boil and drop a few tomatoes in for a minute or so until you see the skins start to break. Remove the tomatoes to an ice water bath and slide the skins off. Dice and put the tomatoes into a large, non aluminum, kettle.

Begin cooking the tomatoes over medium heat. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is tender and translucent but not brown. Add the onion and garlic to the tomatoes.

Bring the tomatoes to a simmer stirring frequently. Add the sugar, herbs and spices, and salt and pepper. Once the tomatoes begin to break down use an immersion blender to get a nice, smooth sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes have reduced by approximately 50% and you have a nice sauce that clings to the spoon.

Ladle the sauce into sterilized jars (I used pints). Add 1/4 tsp of citric acid just before sealing the jars. Process the sauce in a hot water bath for 45 minutes. Once you remove the jars from the water bath allow them to cool completely before storing.

That is not ALL pizza sauce…better than half the jars are diced tomatoes. Now, all you need to do is whip up a crust and get a pizza in the oven. I made one with the sauce that was left over after filling my jars and some of our favorite toppings.

NOTE. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can use a regular blender or food processor and process in small batches. Also feel free to add other spices or increase/decrease some of the ones that I used. If you like your sauce kicked up a little add some red pepper flakes.

I put my garlic cloves in the tomatoes without dicing. Once the sauce simmered for awhile the immersion blender took care of them.