Garden Fresh Spaghetti Sauce

With 23 pounds of tomatoes, several large sweet peppers, and onions from our garden I decided to make and can homemade spaghetti sauce. 

The top and middle tray of tomatoes are early girl, plum, and grape tomatoes.  The large bottom pan is filled with black krim tomatoes. Peppers are cubanelle peppers and California wonder bell peppers. Both peppers are sweet and have a great mild pepper flavor.

Here is how I made my sauce

After I washed and took the stems out of the tomatoes I put them in my food processor

Next I put the tomato juice in the food press to remove any skin and seeds

I put the peppers (stemmed and seeded) in the food processor with the onions and chopped

In a very large stock pot I added the tomato juice, chopped onions and peppers

Then I added the following

(3) 6 oz cans tomato paste

2 tablespoons each of the following dried herbs and spices

basil

parsley

garlic powder

crushed red pepper flakes

oregano

2 single bay leaves

 

Next I added

1 cup olive oil

1/4 salt

1 cup sugar ( less sugar if you like a tangy sauce or more if you like a sweeter sauce) The sugar is really determined by the type of tomatoes used. Black Krim tomatoes are very acidic and tangy tasty where as the early girls have a milder taste.

 

After the mixture came to a boil I reduced the heat to a simmer and cooked for about 4 hours. The amount of time the sauce cooks is determined by how thick you want the sauce to be. I like my sauce to be a medium to thick sauce. 

 

After saucing my tomatoes, chopping my peppers and onions, adding spices, and letting the sauce simmer for a while I decided to make spaghetti for lunch.  This was the taste test to see if the sauce needed more seasoning. I made a simple Bolognese Sauce just by adding browned ground beef to the sauce.

 

Once the sauce passed the taste test and it simmered for 4 hours it was time to can the sauce.  In sterilized quart jars I added the sauce and put the jars in a water bath for 40 minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now on a busy night, dinner will be as simple as cooking noodles and opening a jar.  With the addition of a fresh salad and some bread I will have a great home cooked meal in just minutes. Love that!!!