Some Things Need to Simmer

A few weeks ago the sound system broke. It's been a pain to get fixed. Part of the problem is that the old system was really a series of patches overlaid on each other, so the resulting complexity in high. I'm glad I didn't try to fix it myself--I could have figured it out, but it would have taken a while. For instance, some of the speakers are run on a 70 Volt system while others are on a 8 Ohms set-up. Just figuring out where the wires actually run to is a time consuming process. Better to let the pro do it. Anyway, it's coming together--he should be finished in an hour or two. It's taken longer to get someone here to fix it than I had hoped. One of the big delays was special ordering parts. But it looks like my patience will be rewarded.

Last night I had another project that needed incredible patience. I turned 15 lbs. of tomatoes (about half a bushel) into five jars of really nice tomato sauce. Here's is the recipe:

Tay's Tomatoes - Recipe adapted from online source

15 lbs Tomatoes
10 lbs. Onions diced
5 Garlic cloves minced
1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tbs. Salt
1 Tbs. Pepper
1 Bottle Red Wine
2 Cups Herbs (Fresh Basil and Oregano are great)
1 Cup Lemon Juice

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until they change color (about 15 minutes). Prepare the Tomato puree by washing, cutting off the stem end, quartering, and running the tomatoes through a Victorio Strainer. Add the tomatoes and wine to the onions. Stir well and bring bring to a slow simmer.

Simmer until reduced by 1/3 to 1/2--about eight hours. Yes, eight hours! With desired thickness reached, add the freshly chopped herbs and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes and use hot packing method of canning.

If canning, use 1/2" headspace. This recipe will make approximately 5 Quart or 10 Pint-size bottles worth. Process in boiling water path 35 minutes for quarts, 30 for pints. Cool and store.

This was a ton of work. But the results are fantastic. Interestingly, a bunch of basil and a bushel of tomatoes (enough to make this recipe twice) costs less than $20. Meanwhile, a jar of "Classico" tomato sauce runs $5-$6 in my local grocery store. So it's about half the cost to make your own as to buy.

Most versions of this recipe don't include the step of using the Victorio Strainer. but the beautiful thing about the Victorio is that it removes both the skins and the seeds! So the resulting sauce really does look like the primo-brand sauces. Another note: using a food processor to chop up the onions is highly recommended.

-t