The perfect sauce to make the most of fresh summer tomatoes and basil. You can bottle it, freeze it or eat it right away. Perfect for pasta, on pizza, with meatballs, in spaghetti bolognese or in lasagne.
8 pint/500ml glass preserving jars with lids and bands
Ingredients
9kgtomatoes
1cupchopped onion(about 1 medium)
6clovesgarlic, minced
1Tablespoonolive oil
2teaspoonssalt
¼cupfresh basil, finely chopped
¼teaspooncitric acid or 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice per hot jar
Instructions
Prepare your water bath canner. Wash jars and lids and bands in hot soapy water. Keep the jars hot in the water bath and keep the lids and bands in a small jug covered with warm water.
Wash the tomatoes, remove cores and cut into quarters. Set aside.
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Run the hot mixture through a food mill. Discard the skins and seeds. If you don't have a food mill you can puree it in a food processor or with a stick mixer. For a smoother sauce, after you have done this, press the mixture through a sieve to remove skins and seeds.
Add the tomato puree back to the pot along with the salt and the basil. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until volume is reduced by about one third to one half, stirring to prevent sticking. This will take about 1 hour.
Add ¼ teaspoon citric acid or 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each hot pint jar. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars leaving ½ inch headspace. Use a chopstick or small spatula to remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim clean and center the lid on the jar. Apply band and adjust until it is fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Process pint jars for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars and cool.
Remove the jars carefully from the water bath and let cool to room temperature. Check to make sure the jars have sealed correctly (if any jars haven’t sealed correctly, they will need to be refrigerated/frozen or re-processed).