Yesterday I finished my post with this picture, all the goodies laid out ready for turning into our favourite bottled sauce. I always find if I lay everything out it inspires me to actually get on and do it.
The onions, chillies and peppers were thoroughly whizzed in the food processor first to save time chopping, then cooked in some olive oil for five minutes to let the flavours mingle and then the tinned tomatoes added along with the tomato puree and the fresh and dried herbs, it was all soon bubbling away on the cooker.
Two hours later there were eleven jars of hot, tomatoey sauce cooling on the rack. When they had cooled down and I had heard the satisfying clunky type ping of the lids as the hot sauce and the hot jars helped to create the necessary vacuum to keep all the freshness in, I moved them to the worktop to continue cooling overnight.
This morning I labelled them, all except the one we will be using tonight in a lovely Pasta Bake which will be accompanied by a homemade cheese and garlic 'tear and share' bread. There's just one more things to make now ....
... and that will be made using the other tall and overgrown Basil plant.
Look how healthy and vibrant the one I cut down yesterday to add to the sauce looks already, they love a good 'haircut'. These Basils started life as one overcrowded supermarket plant, the minute I got home I split it in two and put them into these larger pots and you can see how much extra Basil I have got for my money.
And now I'm off to play with Basil .......
Sue xx
Save me some please.
ReplyDeleteJane x
I love the sound of the tomato, chilli and pepper sauce. I will have to have a go at making some myself.
ReplyDeleteJulie x
Thanks for that; I've wanted to do sauce like this for ages and will do so if my 5 tomato plants manage to produce this year. How long do they keep if they do create a vacuum and how long do they keep if they dont? How can you tell if each jar has "popped"? Is it a case of if the metal lid will press in then there's no vacuum and use it quick? I don't want to risk food poisoning but you obviously are managing fine so would love your advice, please!
ReplyDeleteI love home made tomato sauce, I cant wait for my homegrown tomatoes & chillis to be ready now.
ReplyDeleteThey look yummy Sue! Have you costed these up? Sorry if you've done it on a previous post and I missed it :)
ReplyDeleteI guess i must be dumb. For some reason i had it in mind that i had to wait till tomato season or that i had to use fresh tomatoes etc. before i could ever try bottling sauce. Being my first year of gardening. i didnt grow enough this year. We were just eating fresh straight off the vine as they grew. No Glut. This is really easy - thanks for the wake up.
ReplyDeleteThey look amazing. I'm going to try and give these a go too. Thanks for the informative post.
ReplyDeleteDon't you have to pressure can these to keep them safe? I water bath can (or 'bottle' as I should say to a fellow Brit!) tomatoes, but had always understood that if you add so much as a sprig of basil - ie a non acid vegetable - they need pressure canning. I pressure can all my tomato sauce - which makes it feel worth the while of having imported that pressure canner from the USA ! - just interested to know if these keep OK and how long you keep them before using?
ReplyDeletethey look so good !
ReplyDeleteSoooo many questions see the next post :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never tried bottling my own sauces before, but this post has inspired me to give it a go :)
ReplyDeleteI have a hunch what that basil is going to transform into :P
Best wishes.
Great post - I will try this one day!
ReplyDelete