Well, this week has been full of domestic activity. I canned up 21 bottles of peaches (what a big sticky mess) and got 4 jars of spaghetti sauce. It turned out pretty good, so here is the recipe. If you want to make it for just one batch, I tripled the original recipe and added some of my own stuff.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Melody Pizzi
Yield: 4 Quart Jars
12 lbs. Tomatoes (20-30 dep on size) ¾ C beef or chicken broth or 1t bullion w/ ¾ C water
6T Olive Oil 3 bay leaves
4T Butter 4 whole stalks celery
2 Onions, finely chopped 3/4 can tomato paste
2 Green Bell Peppers 3 t Salt
2 Carrots, finely chopped 1 ½ t Pepper
12 Cloves garlic, minced 2 pinches red pepper flakes
8 t dried basil ¾ t thyme
¾ t Italian seasoning **2 handfuls grated parmesan cheese (add when eating)
1. Blanch and peel tomatoes. Squeeze out seeds and quarter if large. Reserve 4-5 tomatoes. Place remaining tomatoes in food processor and puree in batches. Dump into large bowl and set aside. Chop reserved tomatoes, keep separate from puree.
2. In large stock pot heat oil and butter over med heat and add onion, bell pepper, carrot, and garlic. Cook until softened (5 min). Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomatoes, basil, Italian seasoning and broth. Add bay leaves and celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, let simmer covered for 2 hrs. Stir occasionally.
3. Stir in tomato paste and remaining seasonings. Let simmer uncovered 2 more hours or until it reaches your desired consistency. Stir occasionally.
4. Remove celery stalks and bay leaves. If you want a smoother sauce run through food processor again.
5. Jar it up and process for 20 min in water bath.
6. Let jars cool on rack until they “pop”.
