Canning Tomatoes & A Quick Pasta Sauce Recipe

In this posting, I describe how to can tomatoes using a pressure caner and provide my wife's recipe for a quick, light pasta sauce you can make in about 25 minutes.

I consider this week to be the close of our 2010 tomato growing season.  This week we canned our last batch of tomatoes, bringing the total amount squirreled away for winter to 45 pints; that's enough to make a meal a week from now until the beginning of next year's season in late June.

While some gardeners prefer to make and can tomato sauce, we prefer to can the tomatoes themselves and use them as an ingredient in recipes.  This gives us the flexibility to use the tomatoes in a variety of dishes such as ratatouille, pasta sauce, lasagna, chili, etc.

Some tomato varieties such as Amish Paste and San Marzano are considered specifically as canning tomatoes.  They are meatier with less juice and therefore produce canned tomatoes that that yield a thicker sauce.

While we did grow some canning paste tomatoes (San Marzano), most of the tomatoes we preserved (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Black Krim etc.) are considered slicing tomatoes.  When used in canning, they produce a thinner sauce but one with a very wonderful sweet flavor.

How To Can Tomatoes

• Wash and stem all the tomatoes so they are ready to go.
• Measure out the amount of tomatoes you need for the jar you plan to fill.  I can the tomatoes in pint sized jars and find that starting with 1 quart of whole tomatoes yields just the right amount of tomatoes for each pint.
  
• Remove the skin from this batch of tomatoes by blanching --Cut a small "X" into the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife.  Then drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 1.5 minutes to loosen the skin. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and cool them to stop the cooking process and make them easier to handle. (Traditionally, blanching is done by placing the tomatoes in an ice water bath but I find that putting them in a colander and running cool tap water over them works just as well.)  Remove the skin.
• Using your hands, squeeze out some of the juice and seeds from each tomato so that you are left with large chunks.  (I do this over the sink to make clean-up easier)
• Put the tomato chunks into canning jars and add either 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (you can buy citric acid powder from a canning specialty store or online merchant)  The jar should be filled to within 1/4" of the top of the jar.
• Wipe the lip of the jar with a paper towel so it is free of any tomato juice and cap with a clean lid.
  
• Repeat the above procedure until all your tomatoes are in cans and ready to go into the pressure caner.
• Place the jars in your pressure caner and fill so that the water level is about 1.5 inches above the bottom of the caner. Cook for 10 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  Remember that you start your timer only after the pressure in the caner reaches 10 pounds of pressure.  For more detailed information about the using a pressure caner, see my posting on Preserving Your Harvest By Caning.
  
• Remove from the caner and let cool.
  

Sharon's Pasta Sauce

My wife Sharon created this recipe specifically for our canned tomatoes.   The recipe creates a lighter, thinner sauce that we prefer.   The quantities listed below are approximations; feel free to adjust the seasoning to your own tastes and the ingredients you have on hand.

• Mince 4 slices of pancetta (Italian Bacon)
  
• Add some olive oil to a pan and cook the pancetta until lightly brown over a medium heat.
• Chop one small onion and add it to the pan.  Cook til translucent, stirring so that the pancetta and onions do not burn.
  
• Mince 3 cloves of garlic and add it to the pan.  Cook about a minute.
• Add 1 pint of caned tomatoes to the pan along with 1/2 cup red or white wine.
  
• If you are using dry oregano, add a few pinches to the pan now.  If using fresh oregano, add it about 2 minutes before removing the sauce from the stove.
• Cook on a low to medium heat for about 15 minutes.  This allows the flavors to mix and some of the water in the to evaporate to thicken the sauce.

Bon Appetit.

Comments

[Poached Pear]

Superb combination !!!!My hubby loves Canning Tomatoes & A Quick Pasta Sauce and i too like to make them for him ...http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viva-Magazine-Your-Premium-Womens-Natural-Health-Magazine/262734921452?ref=ts next time ,i can try yours ...i think he just love this very much!!!!