Master Recipe ( Road Map ) For Freezer Tomato Sauces

The question is "Where do we go from here?" because canning is out for me.

I posted recently about this year's tomato adventures. Exhausted though I was, I did manage to make some astoundingly good sauces. They are all in the fridge or freezer now.

I got in over my head pretty fast. How can I make this different, instantly useable with just protein or made into soup or a stewing liquid? How can I get the same taste and smoothness I got when I was in chef school? How can I change the taste and use up my produce from the weekly farm delivery?

One of my Facebook Friends ( Nancy Merz Hermsen ) asked me for the recipes for the sauces I mentioned. I asked her which one, she said all of them.

When she made the request, I had a half bushel still left to process. So I tried to follow my own creative process more closely so I could write this for her.

First, know your tastes. The recipe has to taste good to you, so do not follow my addition ingredients if you don't like that flavor. Make your own combination. Just think about what flavors like to dance with tomatoes. Like for example, onion, garlic, cabbage, zucchini and all manner of peppers. Think about the herbs you and your family like. For example, oregano, Italian herbs, onion powder, paprika, little red chili pepper flakes.

Now on with it. First, roast halved Roma tomatoes in a 425* oven for 30 minutes. This is a shot of the tomato roasting pan and the juices. Note I roast on a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, I spray oil on the parchment and then sprinkle oregano and Italian spices on the pan and lay the halves on top of the herbs, drizzle with olive oil and salt. Throw a few cloves of garlic in their skins onto the pan if you like, then roast. I use all of the juice after I skin them after they roast.

One roasting pan held 6 pounds of halved tomatoes. I had about 2 quarts of tomatoes from one sheet. Above you can see the tomatoes in a container as well as the juice and the tomato paste I use copious amounts of in the finale of the sauce making.

Add the roasted tomatoes to the vessel you intend to make the sauce, I used this pan. Add olive oil, your aromatic vegetables, and simmer till the flavor develops in the vegetables. For a paprika-onion sauce, first add the onion. After simmering, add the paprika--lots of paprika. Once the onion is nice and red and the oil is almost gone from the bottom, add the tomatoes. I worked in one-quart increments. The above is one quart. It looks like this in the beginning. After a long low simmer, it looks like this:

Halfway through as the sauce begins to amalgamate, add the roasting pan juice slowly a little at a time. Then a tablespoon of tomato paste. Then salt. Then tomato paste. I went through 5 containers of tomato paste for one bushel. Then cook until it looks and tastes the way you want. I also add a large pinch of red chili flakes, I added it to all the sauces. I also add a drizzle of olive oil at the end.

I added a whole zucchini to one of the batches. It was over the moon good as a soup.

This was so good, I wished I had more zucchini, but alas I did not. I did have 2 green peppers and a jalapeno which joined the party in a later batch. If you like cacciatore, add peppers and onions to the pan and fry. Then add the tomato, this is a good way to have the base tomato sauce ready to roll to pour over the chicken.

The only reason I can manage all this preserving and testing is that I have a shadow, a sous chef. What I can not manage to do, the little chef does. She is my light. She has become quite the chef herself, I am so proud.

Questions? Ask away.