Saturday, September 4, 2021

 It's Tomato Time: Easy Marinara Sauce

Finished marinara sauce in freezer container. I cut the banana peppers in large chunks to add texture.

Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer, and in the midwest it's the time to harvest and begin preserving tomatoes. As the night temperatures fall, heat-loving tomato plants slow down production, anticipating the arrival of frost. So now is the time to make and freeze some awesome and easy marinara sauce.

Although any good, ripe red tomato can be used, the best tomato sauces are made from roma-type tomatoes. This year, I grew one of the best plum tomatoes. It has the rather unglamorous name of Hybrid 46, but don't let the name fool you. The fruits were perfectly shaped and meaty. Each weighed between 6 to 8 ounces. And the plants were very prolific. It didn't take a lot of picking to get enough to produce a good sized batch of marinara sauce.

The most labor intensive part of making tomato sauce is peeling the tomatoes, but I learned a neat trick to make this process fast and almost mess-free. First, I cut the blossom end off each tomato. I then put the whole tomatoes into a pressure cooker, added just enough water to cover them and put the lid on the cooker. Adjusting the gage to high pressure, I put them on heat for 15 minutes or so. After removing from heat and allowing any pressure and steam to escape, I removed the lid and used a pair of grilling tongs to slip the skins off. The tomatoes were mushy but still intact, and the skins came off as easily as peeling a banana.

Once the tomatoes are peeled, place them into a 3 quart saucepan with just a little water and a pinch of salt. Begin to simmer on low heat with the lid on the pan, stirring occasionally to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. When the tomatoes are very mushy and begin to fall apart, use a stick blender to puree the mixture. Measure your puree and return to the saucepan.

For every 2 cups of tomato pulp, add the following:

1 whole onion, chopped
3-4 sweet banana peppers, chopped
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbps. dry oregano
2 tbps. dry basil
2 tbsp. dry parsley
2 tsp. garlic powder
dash pepper

Stir chopped pepper, onion, sugar and herbs into the tomato puree. Add 1/2 cup water, tomato juice or dry red wine. Return to low heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce is no longer runny. Allow to cool and freeze in 1 quart containers.   

This sauce can be used as pizza sauce or over pasta. It retains its bright,  fresh-picked tomato flavor after it's frozen, so you can enjoy a taste of summer in January.



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