Sunday, July 5, 2009

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

This morning I picked a bucket full of tomatoes from our garden. Yes, it was actually a full bucket full. What better to do with all those ripe, beautiful pieces of heaven than to make spaghetti sauce. There's nothing better in the winter than pulling out a can of homemade spaghetti sauce made from vine ripe summer tomatoes. Yum, yum! This recipe yields 7 quart size jars.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
17-lbs. vine ripe tomatoes
1 large onion; chopped
1 whole pod garlic; minced
1/4 c. diced bell pepper
olive oil
a handful each of fresh basil, fresh oregano & fresh rosemary
salt & pepper to taste
5 Tblsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
1/3 c. sugar
bottled lemon juice

Wash and sterilize jars, seals and lids. Keep hot until ready to use.


Pour enough oil into a large, heavy stock pot to lightly coat bottom of pot. Saute garlic, onion and bell pepper in oil until tender.




Chop herbs and add to sauteed vegetables in stock pot. Allow to cook until herbs wilt.


Core and slice tomatoes into quarters. Add to stockpot.


Cook over medium-high heat and allow tomato mixture to come to boil. Add in salt, pepper and red pepper (if using.)


Using an immersion blender, blend tomatoes until smooth and seasonings have mixed well. Reduce heat and allow mixture to cook, uncovered, until it thickens to your liking.


Remove hot, sterile jars from water bath canner. To each quart jar, add 2 Tblsp. of bottled lemon juice. If using pint jars, add 1 Tblsp. lemon juice.


Ladle hot spaghetti sauce into jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims with a damp towel to make sure the area is clean. Place seals and bands on each jar. Tighten to fingertip tight. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN.


Place jars into water bath canner and bring to a full rolling boil. Process jars for a full 40 minutes. If using pints, process for 20 minutes.


Remove jars from canner and allow to cool completely. As jars cool they should "ping" letting you know they have properly sealed. Label jars and store on pantry shelf.


Click HERE for printable recipe

7 comments:

Farming On Faith said...

Thank you for sharing this recipe. I plan on making this just as soon as I get red tomatoes!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend~
Carrie

Joan said...

Looks great. I have a counter full of tomatoes I need to put up. Spaghetti Sauce looks delicious.
I really would like to try the pasta gravy you have in your recipes. Do you cut the pork up or put a whole piece (like a roast) in? It looks so yummy! Any other tips?
Thanks,
Joan

Keeper of the Home said...

Joan ~
For the pork, just place it in whole and as it cooks it will break down on it's own. When you can it up or freeze it in containers, you might want to shred any large pieces so that each jar or container gets semi equal pieces of meat. I hope this helps.

~Mrs. M

Sandra said...

I make my own spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes we put up, and I have wondered if I could go ahead and put my spices in there. I don't put my tomatoes in a water bath though.

lady m said...

Dear Mrs. M,

The sauce looks delicious! My tomator plants are not up to flowering just yet...it is the North and the weather has not been that hot!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe - loved the tutorial ;)

lady m

Lynn said...

This looks delicious. Any thoughts on what you'd do if you don't have an immersion blender? Just blend in batches in your regular blender? We have seven tomato plants, and I haven't been inundated so far, but I'm expecting to be in another week or two ;)

Keeper of the Home said...

Hey there Mrs. Lynn ~

Thank you so much for visiting with me at my blog.

As for the immersion blender substitute, yes, your blender would be just great for this. Or if you ha