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Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce

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This homemade roasted garlic tomato sauce is packed full of fresh summer tomatoes and lots of roasted garlic. Canning instructions included!

Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce by Nutmeg Nanny

I’m at it again.  I can’t stop canning! When I saw the recipe for this roasted garlic tomato sauce I knew it had to be made.  How could I pass up something that sounded that delicious!  I went down to my local farmers stand and picked up a basket of tomatoes, garlic, green peppers and fresh herbs.
The sauce took awhile to make but nothing smells better than tomato sauce simmering on the stove.  The roasted garlic made my house smell amazing too.  I was in foodie smell heaven.

Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce by Nutmeg Nanny

The sauce is (obviously) flavored heavily with garlic but it also includes freshly roasted peppers and TONS of fresh herbs.  It’s definitely one of my (new) favorite sauces!

Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce by Nutmeg Nanny

For the sauce the tomatoes have to be peeled. If you do not know how to easily peel tomatoes (this works for peaches too) you are going to love this little tip.  Get a pot of boiling water on the stove.  In a large bowl add ice and fill with cold water.  Cut out the stem of the tomato and drop a few tomatoes in the boiling water.  Let them hang out in the water for about 10 seconds then, using a slotted spoon, take them out of the boiling water and into the ice bath.  Let them cool in the ice bath before you try to handle. They will be hot.  Once cool, take out of the ice water and the skins should peel right off. Some people like to use a paring knife to help with the peeling but I find it easiest to just peel the skin off using my hands.

Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce by Nutmeg Nanny

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Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce

This homemade roasted garlic tomato sauce is packed full of fresh summer tomatoes and lots of roasted garlic. Canning instructions included!

Yield: About 6 pints

Prep Time: 60 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 6 heads of garlic
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 medium red, yellow or green sweet peppers - halved and seeded
  • 12 pounds ripe tomatoes - peeled
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves - chopped
  • 1 cup lightly packed assorted fresh herbs - oregano, thyme, parsley
  • 6 tablespoons lemon juice (use bottled lemon juice not fresh)

Source: Better Homes and Gardens Canning Magazine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel away the dry outer layers of skin from garlic bulbs, leaving other skin and cloves intact. Cut about 1/2 inch off pointed top portions, leaving bulbs intact but exposing the individual cloves. Place the garlic heads, cut side up, in a 1 to 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Cover casserole dish.

On another foil lined baking sheet, arrange peppers cut side down and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.

Roast garlic and peppers for 40-50 minutes or until pepper skins are charred and garlic cloves are soft. Cool garlic on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

For the peppers, pull up sides of foil and pinch together to fully enclose the peppers. Let peppers stand for 15-20 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Peel off skins and discard. Chop peppers, set aside.

Remove garlic cloves from paper skins by squeezing the bottoms of the bulbs. Place garlic cloves in a food processor. Cut peeled tomatoes into chunks, add some chunks to the garlic in food processor. Cover and process until chopped.

Transfer chopped garlic and tomatoes to a 7-8 quart stainless steel, enamel or nonstick heavy pot. Repeat chopping the remaining tomatoes, in batches, in the food processor. Add all tomatoes to the pot.

Add brown sugar, salt, vinegar, and black pepper to the tomato mixture. Bring to boiling. Boil steadily, uncovered, for 50 minutes, stirring often. Add chopped peppers to tomato mixture. Boil for 10 to 20 minutes more or until mixture is reduced to about 11 cups and reaches desired consistency. Remove from heat, stir in basil and herbs.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice into each of the six hot, sterilized pint canning jars. Ladle hot sauce into jars with lemon juice, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids.

Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes (start timing when the water returns to boiling) Remove jars from the canner, cool on wire racks.

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[…] tomato sauce for this recipe but you can use your favorite jarred or homemade tomato sauce. My Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce would work well […]

Diane

Sunday 12th of September 2021

Delicious! Doubled the recipe because we have a glut of tomatoes. Aside from the basil, I used whatever other herbs I had in the garden: parsley, oregano, chives, a tiny bit of rosemary and some lovage. Next time, I’ll use a smaller amount of lovage.

PLEASE NOTE: because of the ingredients besides the tomatoes, this really needs to be processed in a pressure canner! I did 8 pints (full load) at 10 pounds, for 1 hour, 15 minutes. I based this on processing times for other similar recipes.

This is going to make some great bouillabaisse!

Diane

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Menolly

Friday 7th of May 2021

Hi! That sounds delicious. I'm always disappointed by the small quantities of garlic in canning tomato sauce recipes. Not this one! I was wondering if I could fry the garlic in the oil rather than roast it. Then you! I can't wait to try this!

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