Summer Tomatoes Become Winter Sauces

I could not resist. I received the flyers from our local markets and there they were all red, plump, and ready for sauce. Plum Tomatoes. I know what I said earlier. No more tomato sauce needed. When I saw the boxes, all reason went out the window.

I didn't use to be like this until I retired and learned to can. I became a canning machine. Now I don't can as much but I love the smell and taste of fresh tomatoes and the resulting sauce from Roma tomatoes. It has become a seasonal must for me. My husband understands, he says it is my art form. I like that like a painter uses canvas I use the season's bounty. I freeze all my sauce now because I can make it with low acid ingredients and not worry. I add all my garden herbs to a baking sheet and on top, I add the cored and washed and halved Roma tomatoes. I drizzle liberally with olive oil and salt and bake at 400* for 30 minutes, or until the skins blister and show some brown. Then I remove from the oven and wait a few minutes for them to cool, and then I pick the skins off, easy peasy.

In the picture above you can see all the steps. I just took the tray out and the contents are cooling. I have ordered a new larger sheet pan, all I have right now is my mother's old roasting tray. You need to place the tomatoes in a single layer for this process to work best. Then I keep the skins in a separate bowl, shown on the top left. Today's round, I did a lot of tomatoes ( another reason to get bigger trays ). The one in the picture is a quarter baking tray. Then I just cook down the tomatoes till they are a texture I like. Cool and freeze. I make each batch a little different. Sometimes I add garlic only, some I add fresh basil only, others I add the entire herb garden. In the top picture, there is garlic and tomato. Later I made eggplant and tomato lasagna for my dinner and used some of the whole roasted tomatoes, it was delicious.

Now if only I can avoid buying more boxes when I go shopping this week. Fifty pounds should be enough, right? In the next post, let me tell you about making my tomato paste.

~Hugs from Mum