Roasted Tomatoes
One bushel. One woman with a knife. One husband who tolerated having the stove on for two days.
I gave the tip to my friend Judi that roasted tomatoes are a great way to deal with split toms. It is also an ingenious way of starting sauce. I had two pans going at 450F for 30 minutes – a foil lined baking sheet (held 35-36 romas) and my stone baker (held about 40 standing upright). The ones on the baking sheet I flipped half way through. Once cooked, I let stand to cool then peeled the tomatoes, tossing them into a pot. The liquid I strained into a saucepan to make tomato juice for soups (it has the same cooking time & pressure as sauce, which is 15 minutes at 11lb, so you can put them together in the pressure canner). I cooked down the tomatoes and then put them through the grinder (first a course grating, then fine) and simmered that in the oven with some rosemary for 2 hours at 275F to heat through and thicken a bit more. During that time, I washed the jars and prepped the pressure canner. Very simple, although still time consuming given that I did three batches (212 tomatoes. Yes I counted.). Into each jar I added 1Tbs per pint of Red Wine vinegar (I was out of lemon juice).
- 9 ½ quarts of plain tomato sauce seasoned with rosemary
- 2½ quarts of juice
- 7 quarts diced tomatoes
- roasted red pepper spread
- spiced tomato butter
Tomato butter you say? Yes! It’s adapted from a Hillebrand Wine Club recipe. My Soroptimist sister Sandy collects them for me. They recommend you serve it with Pinot Noir 2007, in case you were curious. They also call for ¾ white sugar but I am looking for something tart/savoury to go on fish or burgers in lieu of ketchup and am keen on reduced my sugar content.
- 3lbs plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (their recipe says 3lb or 1.5 kg but the two are not equivalent weights. It’s about 15-19 tomatoes)
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 stick cinnamon, broken in two
- 8 allspice seeds, whole
- 3 cloves, whole
- 4 or more pepper corns, whole
Start by placing all the spices in a cheesecloth bag (or get one of those turkey brining bags and tie it at the top; they are handy and reusable). Add everything into a large pot, like my lovely blue or red one. Place in the oven and bake for 2 hours at 275F if you happen to be making sauce. Alternatively, you can bring it to boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes. Most of the liquid should have evaporated but stir it periodically so it doesn’t scorch.
Let cool about 20 minutes. Remove the spice bag and then use an immersion blender to puree the mixuture. Sweeten to taste, if desired.
Bring back to a boil, then ladle into hot, clean jars. Since the original recipe doesn’t call for processing (it’s a refrigerate storage method), it’s hard to tell if this classifies as a preserve or ketchup (a la Bernardin). Since this has no onion, I think 15 minutes processing seems an acceptable comparator to other recipes.
