I’m saving that for my Italian hubby - his family makes gallons of tomato sauce from their tomatoes every year; but we’ve never done a small stove-top recipe from scratch, and have never made our own pizza.
Thanks!
I perfected my pizza sauce recipe from plum tomatoes I picked on a farm in Wapato, Washington near Yakima. The tomatoes were ripe and I had 100 LBS of them. My method of canning was very simple:
Wait until the tomatoes have turned a deep red as they naturally ripen in the boxes. You want them to age to their maximum potential. Keep a close eye on them. Their maximum ripeness will very rewarding.
Wash the tomatoes in cold water. No need to take the skins off. Just quarter the plum tomatoes and chop the quarters in half. Put in a large stock pot.
Cover pot with a lid and bring tomatoes to a simmer on a low burner setting. You will be surprised how fast the mixture comes to a simmer. Stir every three minutes as the tomatoes come to a simmer. This will keep the mixture from scorching on the bottom. When the tomatoes have come to a simmer, you can start canning. Adjust the temperature to control the simmer at this point.
Load your canner with clean quart jars filled with water. Fill the canner with enough water to have the quart jars in submerged in the water so the tops are a depth of 2 inches under the water level. 2 inches under water is a good margin of error.
Bring the canner water to a rolling boil. This sterilizes the jars.
Pour out the hot water from the jar, using a jar lifter, that is going to be immediately packed, into a convenient vessel or the kitchen sink.
Using a sterilized canning funnel (sterilized in the hot canning water), immediately, pack the hot tomatoes in the empty, hot quart jar, pressing down, until space between tomatoes fills with juice leaving 1/2 inch headspace. I use a narrow recycled 10 oz maraschino cherry jar (sterilized, of course) for this purpose.
No need for salt in this recipe. Quickly add 1/2 tsp Ball citric acid. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar (from a pan of hot simmering water)—a magnetic lid lifter is essential. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
Put quarts in boiling water bath canner.
PROCESS filled jars in a boiling water canner 1 hour and 25 minutes for pints and quarts, adjusting for altitude. The time starts when the rolling boil stage is reached.
At the end of the processing time remove jars to a smooth layer of kitchen towel to cool. Remove rings when jars are room temperature. Rings should never be left on the jars. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.
Whenever these canned tomatoes are being used for cooking, the skins you left on became so soft during the canning process they are hardly noticeable. They are perfect for stews and soups. Spanish rice is delicious.
For pasta sauce, I always puree a carrot in the entire quart of sauce. The result is a sauce much thicker than any store bought sauce. When use in a spaghetti sauce, the time for reducing the sauce is greatly reduced. All you are doing is heating the spices and ingredients so they will blend into the sauce. Watch out for splattering bubbles. Temperature control needed for the thick sauce. And at each stirring, drop the temperature and slowly bring the temperature back up to a slow simmer. You are dealing with the queen of tomato sauces. She wants care.
I hope I didn’t miss any steps.