Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

It's been a while since I posted; sorry about that but it's been busy in the kitchen here the last couple of weeks.  First I bought 60 pounds of tomatoes from a local produce shop since it didn't look like mine were going to cooperate ... then it got warm and everything ripened at once ... I picked another 60 pounds of my own tomatoes over a period of four days!  So there's sauce, salsa, catsup and more all in various stages of completion.  I'm really pleased with the way the sauce turned out.

Ingredients:
20 pounds tomatoes (I used Romas), halved
3 sweet onions, coarsely chopped
12 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp olive oil
3 "Mixed Herb Blobs"  or a few sprigs each of your favorite herbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup good red wine
2 bay leaves (preferbly fresh)
citric acid (you can use bottled lemon juice but I don't care for the taste it gives the sauce)

A word about my ingredients list.  There is one thing you DON'T see listed here; salt.  I seldom use salt in my cooking; leaving it up to the diner to add it or not at the table.  I think this ought to be a law....

Place the tomatoes face-up in casserole dishes (after the first batch I used my big, rimmed cookie sheets; it went much faster as I could roast more tomatoes at the same time).  Toss the onions and garlic on top of the tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil.

 Roast at 325 degrees oven for 2 hours (I rotated the pans after the first hour to get even roasting since my stove is very old ... 1956!  I am going to have to clean the ovens again after the main portion of the fall cooking frenzy is over; this was built before self cleaning.  I'm never going to replace it since I love the second, smaller oven on the side : )

Once the vegetables have cooled there are a couple of ways you can prepare it for the sauce. I used my Victorio Strainer (you could use a food mill, food processor or an immersion blender.)

Place the strained sauce in a heavy stock pot, add the herbs, wine and bay leaves

and simmer on medium heat for an hour.

While the sauce is simmering prepare jars, lids and bands for canning ... remove hot jars from canner, add citric acid to each jar (1/2 tsp for quart jars, 1/4 tsp. for pint jars or 2 tbsp. lemon juice for quart jars, 1 tbsp for pint jars)  Ladle sauce into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim and center lid on jar.  Screw band on to fingertip tight.  Process in water bath for 40 minutes for quart jars; 35 minutes for pint jars.  Makes about 5 quarts.

Enjoy!

PS: 2/25/12  Note to self : Next fall can at least 24 quarts and 12 pints of this ...