Pasta Sauce . . . 

It seems like my entire garden is shutting down for the winter. I have just picked the last of the Roma tomatoes. I love these tomatoes as they are so easy to grow, no staking required. They are also a very fleshy fruit which yields well when making wonderful tomato dishes.

Bottling pasta sauce is a delicious way to preserve garden-fresh tomatoes and herbs. Homemade sauce is truly a wonderful way to elevate your pasta dishes. 

The perfect sauce to make the most of your fresh summer tomatoes and basil. However, that was the last batch I bottled. The recent heavy frost finished off my basil, so this batch will have thyme and parsley. You can bottle, freeze or eat it right away. Perfect for pasta, on pizza, with meatballs, in spaghetti Bolognese or in lasagne. I always go for the bottling scenario as I am terrible at remembering to take things out of the freezer before I need them. This is the most wonderful thing about bottling, the jar that is stored in your larder can be opened and used straight away, no defrosting required.

Before I started to prepare the vegetables, I got the Agee Preserver a third filled with water. Washed seven pint sized jars in hot soapy water and placed them in a low oven to sterilise and keep warm. As there is just two of us at home now, I find this is a good size for us. 

I washed the tomatoes. Put the tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil and tomato paste into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. While it cooked, I stripped the stems off the herbs and finely chopped them. Added these and the sugar, salt and pepper when the vegetables were soft. Using my trusty stick blender, I pureed the sauce. If you don't like the skins and pips and want a smoother sauce, you can push it through a sieve at this point. We like it more rustic and don't mind the texture.

Bring the sauce back to a boil and pour into the prepared jars leaving a 2cm headspace at the top. This is about the depth of the thread around the top of the jar. Add ¼ teaspoon citric acid to each jar as you fill it, this is important as newer varieties of tomato are lower in acid. Use a chopstick or small spatula to remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim clean and place the lid on the jar. Apply band and turn until it is fingertip tight. Place jar in the boiling water. Repeat until all jars are filled. I have bottling tongs for putting the jars in the water, if you don't, reduce the amount of water so you can use gloves or a cloth and then when all the jars are in the pot add more boiling water so that the jars are completely covered. Make sure the water covers the jars throughout the processing time.  If you don't have a preserver, you can use a large pot. It is important to note that the jars must not touch the bottom of the pot. Place a small rack in the pot or if you don't have one that fits, a folded tea towel also works.

Process pint jars for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the jars carefully from the water bath, remember that steam burns, place on a towel, tighten the bands and let cool to room temperature. Make sure you use gloves or a cloth when tightening the bands as they are extremely hot. When they have cooled, check to make sure the jars have sealed correctly. If any jars haven’t sealed, they will need to be refrigerated and used within three days or you can tip them into bags and freeze them. However, it is rare for jars not to seal. If you are going to do a lot of bottling, I highly recommend getting a preserving set.

Wait 24 hours before removing the bands, labelling and storing jars away.

 Pasta Sauce Recipe . . . 

2kg ripe tomatoes

500g diced onions  

4 tsp minced garlic

½ cup olive oil

½ cup tomato paste - I use my homemade tomato sauce

Handful of basil leaves - or other herbs

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste - freshly ground

Citric acid - ¼ tsp per jar

Prepare as above.

#PastaSauceRecipe #RomaTomatoes #AgeePreserver #Bottling #Canning

14th May 2024