Around this time of the summer, my thoughts turn to the coming cold weather and I make tomato sauce for the freezer. I don't eat food from cans. Do you know that to kill any potential pathogens, canned food needs to be heated to around 600 degrees? Along with the pathogens, there go the vitamins. 200 years ago, I think there were very good reasons for canning. Canning was a terrific way to preserve the bounty of summer and eat well all winter. You had to can fruits and vegetables or you had to eat only grains and root vegetables all winter. Now that we have great freezers, I don't feel the need to can.
Well, here in New Jersey the farmer's markets are brimming with luscious tomatoes and peppers. The weather here today is a bit steamy, but it is stormy so all my outdoor activities are out of the question. A perfect day for making sauce. Another plus is that my husband is going to be at work until 10pm tonight.
I buy about equal amounts of tomatoes and peppers. I usually use plum tomatoes. Today they were 2 lbs. for $1.00 (A great price for tomatoes.) I use red bell peppers and banana peppers too. I'd prefer to use all bell peppers, but today the banana peppers were more than 1/2 the price of the bells. Do you know a green bell pepper is an unripe red bell pepper. That is why people have stomach upsets from eating peppers. You'll have less problems digesting the pepper if you buy the red ones. No, they are not hot. Here is a bit of a recipe.
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 good sized onions
7 lbs. plum tomatoes - washed and chopped
5 or 6 or 7 pounds of red or banana peppers - washed, cored and chopped roughly
as much garlic as you would like
some hot peppers if you like spicier food
Chop and saute the onions in the olive oil, add the tomatoes, stir once in a while, add peppers. This cooks down as you cook and add the vegetables. Depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes it should take about an hour to cook. I used to blend this up in a blender. Anyone who has ever tried to use a blender to blend a hot liquid knows why I've stopped using a blender. What is that all about? For those of you who don't know, when you put a hot liquid in a blender and hit the "blend" button, all hell breaks loose and hot liquid comes flying over the top of the blender. Big mess. Get an immersion blender. It is the best little gadget for your kitchen. You'll use it for so many things. Have a soup you want to make creamy? Just stick that immersion blender in and whir away. Want to make a nice mug of cocoa with a foamy head on it? Yup, the immersion blender will do that. It is a lot easier to clean up than a blender too.
I do not peel the tomatoes nor do I seed the sauce. All the vitamins are in the skin of fruits and vegetables. I am always looking for more fiber in my diet, so that is another reason to leave the skins and seeds in. We eat this sauce over whole wheat pasta at my house. Whole wheat is better for you, period, end of conversation. You can eat what you want at your house.
When all the veggies are soft, I peel the garlic and turn the flame off under the pot. Put the immersion blender in and start blending. You are in charge of how chunky you make your sauce. Adjust the taste here. You will need some salt and maybe some pepper. If the peppers or tomatoes were not so ripe, you might need to add a bit of sugar.
I measure 2 cups of sauce into zip loc freezer bags and put them in the refrigerator overnight. When they are thoroughly cool tomorrow, I'll lay them one on top of the other in the freezer. One bag is just the right amount of sauce for a pasta dinner for the two of us. I usually keep doing this until I have about 30 bags of sauce. On my "lazy" days, in the winter, when I get home late from work, I pull out some sauce and make us a pasta dinner. It is delicious.
Well, here in New Jersey the farmer's markets are brimming with luscious tomatoes and peppers. The weather here today is a bit steamy, but it is stormy so all my outdoor activities are out of the question. A perfect day for making sauce. Another plus is that my husband is going to be at work until 10pm tonight.
I buy about equal amounts of tomatoes and peppers. I usually use plum tomatoes. Today they were 2 lbs. for $1.00 (A great price for tomatoes.) I use red bell peppers and banana peppers too. I'd prefer to use all bell peppers, but today the banana peppers were more than 1/2 the price of the bells. Do you know a green bell pepper is an unripe red bell pepper. That is why people have stomach upsets from eating peppers. You'll have less problems digesting the pepper if you buy the red ones. No, they are not hot. Here is a bit of a recipe.
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 good sized onions
7 lbs. plum tomatoes - washed and chopped
5 or 6 or 7 pounds of red or banana peppers - washed, cored and chopped roughly
as much garlic as you would like
some hot peppers if you like spicier food
Chop and saute the onions in the olive oil, add the tomatoes, stir once in a while, add peppers. This cooks down as you cook and add the vegetables. Depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes it should take about an hour to cook. I used to blend this up in a blender. Anyone who has ever tried to use a blender to blend a hot liquid knows why I've stopped using a blender. What is that all about? For those of you who don't know, when you put a hot liquid in a blender and hit the "blend" button, all hell breaks loose and hot liquid comes flying over the top of the blender. Big mess. Get an immersion blender. It is the best little gadget for your kitchen. You'll use it for so many things. Have a soup you want to make creamy? Just stick that immersion blender in and whir away. Want to make a nice mug of cocoa with a foamy head on it? Yup, the immersion blender will do that. It is a lot easier to clean up than a blender too.
I do not peel the tomatoes nor do I seed the sauce. All the vitamins are in the skin of fruits and vegetables. I am always looking for more fiber in my diet, so that is another reason to leave the skins and seeds in. We eat this sauce over whole wheat pasta at my house. Whole wheat is better for you, period, end of conversation. You can eat what you want at your house.
When all the veggies are soft, I peel the garlic and turn the flame off under the pot. Put the immersion blender in and start blending. You are in charge of how chunky you make your sauce. Adjust the taste here. You will need some salt and maybe some pepper. If the peppers or tomatoes were not so ripe, you might need to add a bit of sugar.
I measure 2 cups of sauce into zip loc freezer bags and put them in the refrigerator overnight. When they are thoroughly cool tomorrow, I'll lay them one on top of the other in the freezer. One bag is just the right amount of sauce for a pasta dinner for the two of us. I usually keep doing this until I have about 30 bags of sauce. On my "lazy" days, in the winter, when I get home late from work, I pull out some sauce and make us a pasta dinner. It is delicious.
The above recipe yeilded 11 bags of sauce. I'll do this twice more and then I will have enough sauce to get through the winter.
You can think of this sauce as a base to make other more complex sauces. Saute mushrooms, add ground beef or turkey. Use the sauce when you are making lasagna or eggplant Parmesan.
Very often, when we are out to eat, my husband will order pasta. He will invariably say, "This is good, but the sauce is not as good as yours."
You should see the grocery stores around here when there is snow in the forecast! Don't people keep food in their homes? My freezer is full of good things to make. When I hear we are getting snow, I make sure I swing by the library to pick up some good reading material.
You can think of this sauce as a base to make other more complex sauces. Saute mushrooms, add ground beef or turkey. Use the sauce when you are making lasagna or eggplant Parmesan.
Very often, when we are out to eat, my husband will order pasta. He will invariably say, "This is good, but the sauce is not as good as yours."
You should see the grocery stores around here when there is snow in the forecast! Don't people keep food in their homes? My freezer is full of good things to make. When I hear we are getting snow, I make sure I swing by the library to pick up some good reading material.
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