A couple years ago, my husband and I tried using one of the topsy turvy tomato hangers with high hopes, only to be shot down. It grew a single, cherry-sized tomato. I was very disappointed. This year, despite our teeny tiny backyard, we planted a tomato plant into the ground. I honestly can't believe how many dang tomatoes that thing has popped out! The kind of plant we purchased is called a Heinz tomato plant, the kind of tomatoes the ketchup is made out of. They've all been about the size of roma tomatoes, which is fine by me. The only "problem" I've had with the plant is just how many tomatoes it has pumped out. Hubs doesn't like tomatoes, so it's all on me to eat them. I've given at least 2 dozen to my parents, and 8 or 10 to my sister, and I'm still eating about 3 a day just to keep up with them.
My aunt and mother-in-law kept telling me to blanch and freeze them but, even though it sounded very easy, I didn't want to have tomatoes in my freezer. My favorite way to eat them is just cut up with some salt and pepper on them and I just can't imagine them being frozen and then still being able to eat them like I enjoy to. I finally thought the plant was slowing down a couple weeks ago, then I walked to the backside of it to see this..
A million more tomatoes have sprouted. Cheese and crackers, I was blown away! You can only see about half of them in this picture, there are even more under the vines. Well, after seeing how many tomatoes I was about to have to deal with, I decided I was gonna try to make my own spaghetti sauce. Today was the day I went outside and they were all red and beautiful and ready to go! So after I picked them, the fun began.
So many! Like I said earlier though, they aren't too terribly big. Alright, first thing I did was put a big pot of water on the stove. I figured since it's a large pot that it'll take a while for the water to start boiling so while that's heating up, I cleaned up the tomatoes and pulled off all the stems.
Once your tomatoes are clean and your water is boiling, gently put your tomatoes into the pot. I used tongs and put them in one at a time since I tend to hurt myself in the kitchen quite easily and didn't feel like dealing with a burn. Once all your tomatoes are in the boiling water, set your timer for a minute. Seems like quite a hassle for just a minute of boiling, but trust me, it's all you need.
Once your minute is up, pour the whole pot into a colander then transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of ice water. Again, I used tongs and did it one at a time, just to be on the safe side.
The skins had already split on most of the tomatoes, but the ice water will help any that have had a problem.
You can see all the split skin. At this point, I'm nervous because if this didn't turn out right, look at all my delicious tomatoes that I've wasted. But I digress. After about a minute or so in the ice bath, pour them back into your colander and start peeling the skin off.
Man, talk about a weird feeling! Little did I know, it was about to get much worse.
Start cutting up your tomatoes. I cut them into fourths since they weren't very big. Once you get them cut, you have to remove the seeds and any excess water. I had initially tried just cutting out the area that had most of the seeds, but then I realized that it'll be much easier to just use my hands. Ughhh, I did not like the feeling of having tomato juice running through my fingers. Anyway, after I cut up about half of them, I put them in my blender and blended them for about 2 minutes and poured the sauce into my pot. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes.
I was a bit discouraged when, after all the work I've put into this already, this was all I had to show for it. A tiny amount of what smelled and looked like tomato soup. But I wasn't about to let that stop me. Here's where the time-consuming part comes in. I put a stick (yes, a whole stick. Don't judge me.) of butter into the sauce and turned on the burner. Once they butter was melted and the sauce was boiling, I turned the heat down to a simmer, slapped a lid on that puppy and let it sit for 45 minutes.
I know, I know, 45 minutes seems like forever when all that's in the pot is tomato sauce and butter, but trust me when I say this is necessary. It's also imperative that you stir this often. With how little sauce I had, I certainly wasn't going to let it burn. While waiting impatiently, I decided to chop up an onion so that I didn't have to do it later. Wanna know a trick to cutting up an onion and not getting all teary eyed? Chew a piece of gum while cutting it! Tried and true my friends, I wouldn't lie to you. Anyway, after 45 minutes is up, it's time to add the goodies!
I added about half the onion I cut up (the rest went into the freezer, it's ways nice to have extra on hand!), 2 tsp of minced garlic, 2 bay leafs, 1 tsp oregano and not quite a half tbsp of both salt and pepper. Pretty simple sauce if you ask me. I wanted a more savory sauce instead of a sweet one, but feel free to change up the spices so that sugar can be added too! Alright, simmer this baby for another 30 minutes and then you're ready to go! It smelled sooo good, I couldn't wait to try it!
Until next time,
Cori
