Yesterday Marcia and I went over to the State Farmers Market, like we do each year and picked up 2 boxes (25# each) of Roma tomatoes, some bell peppers, onions and garlic. This morning I started processing them. I cook it all down, add a can or 2 of tomato paste to help thicken it up some and let it cool. Then I put it in gallon ziplock bags and freeze for later use. This basic tomato sauce can be used for many things like chili, spaghetti sauce, bolognese sauce, stewed okra and tomato and other stuff.
Here's my processing process...
Here's where it all starts...
...start with peppers, onions, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, salt and pepper and saute with olive oil...
..as the vegs cooks down some I place the tomatoes in boiling water to free the skins for easy removal...
...then in cold water and start peeling the skins off. This makes peeling the tomatoes easy. then cut them up...
...then the tomatoes go in with the other vegs and the cooking begins...
...the cooking will go on for a couple of hours then a couple more hours to cool so I can bag it all up for the freezer.
I will use some of this tomato sauce with fresh okra we also bought yesterday for stewed okra and tomatoes tonight to go over rice.
This batch is from one of the 25# boxes of tomatoes we bought yesterday. I'll start the next box tomorrow. These 25# boxes cost $15 yesterday. The first year we did this we got the boxes for $7. Even at $15 per box it still a good deal that is really appreciated through out the winter.
