Balsamic Tomato Sauce

This is a recipe I’ve cobbled together from a couple I found online (here and here – although more-so the first one).

INGREDIENTS

16 roma tomatoes (AKA: 2kg OR 7-8 cups), diced and roasted
1 yellow pepper, diced and roasted
1/2 C red onion, diced
8 medium-sized cloves of garlic
Olive oil (to drizzle)

1 sweet-pickled red pepper, rinsed and mashed

1/4 C balsamic vinegar
1/4 C red-wine vinegar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp dried basil, crumbled
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp marmite[2]
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1) Dice the tomatoes, the onion, and the yellow pepper

2) Roughly chop the garlic

3) Throw them all onto a greased cookie sheet and roast them for half an hour

4) Throw the roasted veggies, plus the sweet-pickled red pepper, and all the seasonings, into a food processor and blend until you have a very smooth sauce

5) Transfer sauce to a large sauce pan and heat on low, stirring regularly (bring to a boil)

6) Sterilize seven 1-cup jars (or 14 half-cup jars, or a mix of whatever sizes you want to use) plus their lids and rings in a boiling-water/steam bath for 5-10 minutes while bringing the sauce to a boil

7) When the sauce is boiling and the jars, lids, and rings are sterilized, ladel the sauce into the sterilized jars

8) Cap the jars and process them, upside down, in a boiling-water/steam bath for 5-10 minutes

9) Set the jars on a wire rack to cool – you will hear the “plunk” as the lids seal (they all need to do this, so pay attention – any lids that can be popped up and down with a fingertip after an hour or so probably need to be re-sealed… or kept in the fridge and used up in the next couple of weeks).

Makes about five cups, total. (Ten half-cup jars).

~*~

And there you have it. Balsamic roasted tomato sauce with added peppers and garlic. The flavour of the peppers is very prominant – I acutally added the 2tbsp and the extra salt mid-way through because I found that the peppers made it too bitter… however, with the added seasonings (salt helps to cancel out bitterness on the palate, and sweetness will temper it) it’s quite tasty.

The next time I make this sauce, I’ll probably only use one pepper, will add extra garlic (I love garlic), and may up the marmite a tad. We shall see.

TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden.

[1] Yes, really. Although if you’re marmite-averse, you can use tamari – or half a teaspoon of table salt – and you’ll be just fine. That said, if you do go the marmite route, you’ll get an extra hit of umami… Which, as someone who really enjoys meat and cheese, is a nice way to add that rich, pungent, complexity of flavour while, say, making something vegan.