Farmsteading Friday

I got up early this morning and started making Spaghetti Sauce to can for the winter months that are quickly approaching.  My favorite recipe for Sauce is from Food to Live By that I have had for many years.  It is relatively easy and cans wonderfully.  It is a little loose for our taste so I normally add some tomato paste to thicken it up. I always make a double batch and my adaptation uses those amounts needed.

I made 2 batches of this recipe I printed below.

That gave me 6 qts. and 5 pts. of sauce.

Farm Stand Marinara Sauce
slightly adapted from Food to Live By

10 lbs fresh canning tomatoes
2 small carrots, cut into chunks
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 large onion, cut into chunks
5-6 T. of olive oil
1 c. red wine
1 (6 oz) can organic tomato paste
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
4 t. dried oregano
3 t. dried thyme
4 t. kosher salt
black pepper or crushed red pepper to taste
sugar to taste, if desired

Stem tomatoes and mark each with an X on the bottom.  Drop into boiling water until skins loosen, about 1 minute.  Remove from boiling water and immediately plunge into ice water.  Remove and discard skins (I give mine to my chickens).  Place tomatoes in a large bowl and squish them up with clean hands or a potato masher so they are roughly crushed.

In the bowl of a food processor, place the garlic and carrots and the onion and pulse until minced. scraping the bowl as needed.  Heat olive oil in large pot.  Add onion mixture and cook until soft but not browned, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.  Add the wine and deglaze pan scraping up any brown bits stuck to the bottom let cook for a couple of minutes and then add the tomato paste and continue to cook one minute more.

Add the tomatoes and spices except sugar.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to an hour to blend flavors and thicken sauce.  Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired and sugar if the tomatoes were too acidic.

The sauce can now be used, cooled and frozen or jarred and canned using the waterbath method for 45 minutes.  Print Recipe

In addition to my sauce I also made a pile of Stuffed Cabbage.  Some to take to a potluck tomorrow and some to put in the freezer for quick meals during busy weeks.

A year ago today-Just Another Day in Paradise