Homemade Italian Red Sauce

There were a few things I took away from living in the Mid-Atlantic.  One - there is a large Italian population.  Two - this leads to AWESOME Italian pizzerias and Italian restaurants.  Miss this immensely.  Thankfully while I was there I grew an appreciation for how flavorful and awesome Italian red sauce can be.  Its not all about getting something from the store in the jar (even though I do have a few of those on standby in my pantry for those 'just in case' moments).  Its about making it your own.

Making your own sauce is so simple, but can be time consuming. I started the process at 830am this morning and it will take me probably around 7 hours to complete.  BUT (I know all you full time working people are like - yea right!  No time for that!) you can start it, leave it and go do something else.  You don't need to babysit it :)

Today I tried something a little different.  Here is what I did.

2 tsp garlic, minced
1 medium size onion (optional)
1 tbs butter (optional)
4 28oz cans of whole tomatoes
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper
Lemon Juice (for canning process)

I'm not using fresh tomatoes?! I know - but using canned whole tomatoes can be just about as good.  If you're ready to use fresh tomatoes, then maybe you shouldn't be reading this blog :)

Step 1: Combining your ingredients - in the right order

First thing to do is get your onion translucent.  So, throw your butter in a stockpot on medium heat, let melt then put your onion in to start cooking.  While this is going on, go ahead and throw the garlic in as well.  The smell from just these three things is heavenly!  Today I didn't use butter or an onion (primarily because I just didn't have an onion to use!).  Those are optional - I know some people don't like onions so it can be left out and it should taste just fine :)

After the onion cooks, probably around 5 minutes, then add your cans of tomatoes.  Once you get those in, increase the heat to med-high since you've increase the amount of stuff by a lot!

Used 4 of these.

Throw in all your spices - the peppers and salt.  Mix those in well.  Then add your final ingredients, the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves.  I decided to just throw these in whole.  I was lazy I guess :) I didn't feel like taking them off the stem and knew I want to really probably remove most of it before processing, so just threw them in whole.

Step 2: Simmer

After you have combined everything, allow the mixture to come to a simmer, then reduce heat back to medium.  Make sure it comes back up to a simmer again.  The sauce needs to simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes, but the longer you allow it to simmer the more flavor you will achieve!  I allowed mine to simmer for probably an hour.  This was also due to me running around chasing kids.  Again - love that you don't have to babysit it and you really can't overcook at this stage!

Just combined on the stove.  Full sprigs of rosemary.

Simmering for about 1/2 hour.

Step 3: Getting rid of the lumps

The next thing I did was remove the mixture from the heat and set up my little food processor.  I took out all the fresh ingredients, the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves.  Now, some of the leaves from the rosemary and thyme came off the stem.  No need to worry.  It is quite alright to have some left behind!

Everything removed from the pot prior to processing.

Strainer is optional - I didn't use it.  I like the more rustic chunky sauce.  And check out my tiny food processor!

After everything was removed, I took the tomatoes and juice, put them through the processor and then placed it in a large bowl until all went through the processor.  This just gives you a better consistency for your sauce.  I then put everything back into the stockpot and back on the stove at medium heat.

Step 4: Simmer, Take 2

Now the goal of the sauce is to simmer until the liquid reduces, making a thicker sauce.  This is all on personal taste.  I like sauce that's not too watery, but not too thick.  You will really have to watch it, stir it every so often and check to see what progress is being made.

My sauce simmered for 4 hours.  It thickened up quite a bit.  Again, this is going to depend on your tastes - Brandon likes thicker sauce so I let it go for awhile.

Sauce that has gone through the processor - ready to simmer.

Step 5: Canning (Optional - You can go right to eating if your batch isn't too big or you have a large family)

While the sauce was simmering I prepped my jars by sterilizing them.  If you are unfamiliar with canning, then I suggest checking out the Ball website that will help you learn how to do this process.  It really isn't that difficult and I'm starting to get myself stocked up for WW 3.  Ha - just kidding. And if you are thinking about canning I would like to suggest grabbing Ball Home Canning Utensil Kit.  I have used it so much and every piece is useful. Its fairly inexpensive (under $10 for the whole thing) @ Walmart.  And one more plug for Ball (because these guys are THE canning experts) - also at Walmart (right next to the rest of the canning supplies) is the Ball Blue Book.  This has GREAT recipes and walks through the processing of canning.  (Hint - their Strawberry Lemon Marmalade is out of this world!)

Jar hot after sterilizing ready to fill with sauce.

So my jars were hot.  I took them out of the water, added 2tbs of lemon juice to each, funneled the sauce into them, removed any air bubbles, cleaned off the rim of the jar, and the placed the two-piece lid on carefully.  Then I carefully lifted the jars and placed them back in the water.  (Again, if this is all unfamiliar, read up on the Ball website.  It is very involved to understand ever step of canning.  It would take me awhile to explain it!)

2tbs of lemon juice and funnel in place.

Removing the air bubbles.

Cleaning off the rim.

The amount that I have listed here made about 1.75 quarts.  So I will only have 1 quart of sauce that will actually go through the 'processing' stage.  This will allow me to just place the jar in my pantry just like the sauces I'm buying at the store.  The other .75 quart I will use tonight for dinner with Mom's Meatballs and *hopefully fresh made pasta (but I'm pretty exhausted after this sauce thing, so it may just be the store stuff tonight!)


I placed the full quart of sauce back in the water canner and brought back up to a boil.  Once I had a steady boil, continue boiling for 40 minutes of processing time.

Once complete, remove from water carefully and allow to cool on the counter.  Leave at least an inch around all sides of the jar for hot air to move.

Finished product.

And that's it!  You're like - THAT's it?  Its a lot I know, but to know that your sauce has no preserves in it and that you have a healthy, fresh tasting sauce that really only matches up to stuff that you'd get at an awesome Italian restaurant -YES its worth it.  Next time I know though to just bring it and make a bunch.  I think I'm up for the challenge :)