The tomatoes have come in like gang busters this year, and especially now. I took some to the CCGC and then over to the Cinti's at the beach. And Ann took some to work - isn't that a unique sentence.
Saucy Sloppy Joe Starter
Preserving Method: Water bath Canning
Makes about 4 pint jars
Recipe excerpted from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving, published by Oxmoor House (2016).
Vegetable cooking spray
3 cups finely chopped green bell pepper (about 2 large)
3 cups finely chopped red bell pepper (about 2 large)
2 cups diced onion (about 2 large)
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
1⁄2 cup roasted tomato paste*
4 cups tomato sauce*
1⁄2 cup apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
1⁄2 cup Dijon mustard
1⁄4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375°F . Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; coat foil with cooking spray. Spread green bell pepper and next 2 ingredients on prepared pan. Stir in salt and pepper. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until vegetables are very tender and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally.
Transfer onion mixture to a large skillet. Stir in tomato paste; cook, uncovered, stirring often, 5 minutes until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in Tomato Sauce and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, 5 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened.
Ladle hot sauce into a hot jar, leaving 1⁄2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band, and adjust to fingertip-tight. Place jar in boiling-water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Process jars 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove lid, and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.
*1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste and 4 (8-oz.) cans tomato sauce, respectively, may be substituted.
COOK'S NOTE: Since the peppers haven't come in gang busters yet and we like our Sloppy Joe's hot I added 2 Jalapenos from the garden and another 3 that had gotten red from the store. From the aroma in the oven I might have overdone it - but if so we'll just add some more tomatoes when we use it. I have to remember to label it as hot?
YIELD: 2 pints + 4 half pints = 3 pints
Also when I got theis recipe I figured there must be a canned Tomato Paste recipe. Found one.on Kitchn http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-tomato-paste-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-206853
How To Make Tomato Paste
Makes 20 to 24 ounces
What You Need
Ingredients
10 pounds tomatoes (See Recipe Note)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Chop tomatoes into quarters.
Simmer the tomatoes with the olive oil: Combine the chopped tomatoes and olive oil in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Cook until the tomatoes are soft and the peels begin to detach from the tomato flesh.
Pass the tomatoes through a food mill: Push the warm tomatoes through a food mill, sieve or chinois to separate the tomato pulp from the seeds and skins. Stir the sea salt and citric acid into the pulp. Discard or compost the seeds and skins.
Divide the tomato pulp between two large, rimmed baking sheets. You can also use a large roasting pan, but it will take longer to cook down that way.
Bake the tomato pulp until reduced to a paste: Place the baking sheets in the oven. Check the tomatoes every half hour, stirring the paste and switching the position of the baking sheets so that they reduce evenly. Over time, the paste will start to reduce to the point where it doesn’t fill the baking sheet any more. At this point, combine the contents of the two pans into and continue to bake.
The paste is done when shiny and brick-colored, and it has reduced by more than half (3 to 4 hours). There shouldn’t be any remaining water or moisture separating from the paste at this point. This will take 3 to 4 hours, though exact baking times will depend on the juiciness of your tomatoes.
Divide finished paste into 4-ounce jars, leaving 3/4 inch headspace.
Preserving Option 1 — Process the tomato paste in a hot water bath: Apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
Preserving Option 2 - Refrigerate or Freeze: If you don’t want to process the paste, you can refrigerate or freeze it instead. Scrape finished paste into clean half or quarter pint jars. Top each jar with a layer of olive oil and place in either the refrigerator or the freezer. As long as you keep it well-covered with olive oil and ensure that you only use a very clean spoon to remove it from the jar, it will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 weeks. Frozen, it will keep for up to nine months.
Recipe Notes: Use paste tomatoes, like Romas and San Marzanos, for the greatest yield. Juicy heirloom tomatoes can also be used, but will have a smaller yield.
COOK'S NOTE: I used mainly my regular tomatoes, but it made probably about 4 cups. I think the oven called for in the recipe is too hot, and initially I used Aluminium Foil in the pans but that really didn't work. I found that the enamel broiler pan was the best - didn't seem to burn and was an even heat - but some of that might have been because the other thinner pans were out of the oven by then and the heat might have been more even.
8/12/2016 - YIELD: 1 half pint = 8 quarter pints = 2.5 pints