Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Making Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I have had such a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. I wanted to make good use of them and decided to make some homemade spaghetti sauce.

First to peel the tomatoes make a slight X cut at the bottom of the fruit. Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the tomatoes a few at a time into the boiling water for around 30 seconds. Immediately plunge in an ice bath. 


Here are all the tomatoes waiting to be peeled. Get a helper if you can to help you peel it will go so much faster. They aren't hard to peel but there were just so many of them.



After I peeled them I cut them in half and just used my fingers to squeeze out as much water and seeds as I could. Place them in a colander to drain a little as you are finishing up.

I put them into my blender to puree them.
Into the crockpot they look a little pale at first but not for long.


I added a package of browned Italian sausage, Italian seasonings, Parmesan cheese, chopped onion, a bit of sugar to cut the acid and a splash of red wine. I also added a can of tomato paste to help thicken. You will need to add a little bit of salt as with fresh tomatoes you don't have the salt added  as you would with canned tomatoes. You can add garlic but I don't as I don't like it.


Simmered in the crock pot on my back porch so the kitchen wouldn't get hot. I kept it on low for about six hours. Here is the finished product. It tasted so fresh and full of flavor.

This made enough for our dinner and for three containers more to be frozen and enjoyed later.

** You can use one large can of crushed tomatoes and one small can of tomato paste in place of the fresh tomatoes. Double, triple as you like.

24 comments:

  1. That looks wonderful! I have a feeling I will be doing the same thing soon! How many tomato plants did you put in this summer? I have 5 and they are loaded!

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  2. That looks so delicious!!

    ~Julia

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  3. There is nothing I like better than I good homemade spaghetti sauce. Looks really good!

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  4. lookes yummy for sure and to have it on the back porch I be the neighbors were looking around for the yummy smell.
    Cathy

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  5. I will definitely have to try this recipe out because we have a lot of tomatoes too! Just put up a few quarts of crushed tomatoes.

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  6. Looks delicious Elaine. That is a great idea for using up all those tomatoes. I usually make tomatoe sauce and freeze it for sauce, chili, and soups in the winter! It is so much better than the store bought.

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  7. I love homemade sauce,and yours looks just delicious.

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  8. I will be right over for a plate of left overs!
    I love making sauce from scratch and yours looks delish. Yummmm.
    Have a wonderful Thursday!!!!!

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  9. Good for you! It looks delicious! Always enjoy reading the inspiring things you are up to.

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  10. I am jeoulous! We weren't able to garden this year, but I'm so glad to see yours did so well.
    I used to can spaghetti sauce and made my own ketchup. Maybe next year.

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  11. Hello,

    What a great recipe! I never thought about making mine in the crock pot!

    Gabriela

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  12. I'm going to try this next week. The rest of my week is crazy, but the tomatoes just keep on coming. I especially like the use of the crock pot. Enjoying your blog. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  13. Nothing is as good as homemade...this looks so yummy! Wish I was at your house for dinner tonight! ;D

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  14. this is wonderful...Hope you enjoyed it! Happy Summer!!! ;)

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  15. Oh yum Elaine! My day use to make it when growing up! Nothing like Dad's sauce and Mom's garlic bread!

    I do print out my images for my journals/tags. I have been collecting for a million years!

    Hugs,
    Marjane

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  16. ohhhhh yummmmmmm...looks so good!!!!!

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  17. Looks yummy, Elaine. Great minds think alike. I just finished eating dinner - spaghetti with sauce made from my "bumper crop" of tomatoes. lol Have you made salsa yet? Been making loads of that, as well.

    Thanks for linking to the party. I love having you join the fun.

    Have a wonderful weekend!
    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  18. Very nice, I'll bet it's great-enjoy:@)

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  19. Oh, my! Look at all those gorgeous tomatoes. My mother used to make spaghetti sauce with the extra tomatoes. Yummy!

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  20. Can you see me jumping for joy! I am! I have 3 roma tomato plants and wanted to make a meat sauce. YUMMY!
    Thanks for bringing all your summer freshness to ON THE MENU MONDAY... what's that sound... women all over dragging out their slow cookers to make this!
    Yvonne

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  21. Hi Elaine,
    We have so many wonderful tomatoes right now this will be a perfect recipe to try. Your tutorial photo's are awesome along with the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you again real soon. Hope you are having a great week!
    Miz Helen

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  22. Looks great. I love to be able to freeze some and have it later. Thanks for being a part of Seasonal Sundays. So sorry it's taken me so long to visit.

    - The Tablescaper

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  23. I did the same thing yesterday evening! We're still getting a few straggler tomatoes, so I whipped up a batch of pasta sauce myself. We love garlic, so I added that as well as fresh basil, italian sausage & seasoning and lots of black pepper. I'll freeze part of it - since it's just the two of us now, it'll make 3-4 meals! Yea for prepping in advance! I did some more tomatoes like stewed tomatoes with celery and onions, too. There's lots of things one can do with them. Glad your chickie girls had some great chickie-sitters while you were gone!

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