Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Homemade Red Sauce


Okay, I stumbled on a yummy sauce this week, by accident.  I had to pull lots of tomatoes before birds would get the rest of them so some were not fully ripe yet.  I blanched, peeled and cored, and pureed them as if for tomato sauce, but then I thought I'd try something new.  I have already canned more than 40 quarts of tomato sauce this season and 19 jars of salsa, so I was in the mood for something new.  Can you say enchiladas?  Yippee!  Me too. Love em.

I love cheese enchiladas in red sauce and I had the general idea of what is in red sauce: tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, crushed red pepper, jalapeno, garlic, onion, sweet peppers, lime juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil so I set out to refine my own recipe by adding these elements a little at a time, until I liked the flavor.  That's what I did.



RECIPE
I started with a sink full of tomatoes, mostly ripe, some yellow heirlooms snuck in too. 


I Prepared them as stated above and added the following:

4 cups onion finely chopped
12 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 red sweet peppers finely chopped
5 stalks celery finely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro finely chopped
3 T dried crushed red pepper
2 jalapeno finely chopped 
(optional- this may make it too hot for you so it's okay to omit jalapenos)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup cumin 
(CUMIN is the VIP for flavor, but can overwhelm some palates, so use sparingly, a tablespoon at a time)

Then, simply cook this down to your preferred consistency, jar them up into properly prepared canning jars with properly prepared lids and rings, and can them in a water bath.  I used my pressure canner as a water bath canner and canned quarts for 35 minutes after heavy boiling began.


My husband LOVED this so much he begged me to marinate some long grain brown rice and black beans in it overnight for him to take for lunch today.  I boiled the rice in water, added the canned beans and the red sauce and let it set up overnight.  It really tastes great.  It just needs a few fresh homemade tortillas to fill up and go.

In spite of my little little rice and beans experiment I STILL canned up 9 quart jars of deliciousness.

WHAT ARE YOU CANNING THIS WEEK??? 

Please SHARE!


I have linked this post to my favorite blog hops:  
Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #30 


and 
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop. 

15 comments:

  1. Love that you experimented until you got it right. Great idea for hubby's lunch too. I am drying this week - no canning.

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  2. LOL --- the leaves falling were cool!!!

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  4. First I love your new blog look for fall. Second can I say YUMMY ! All looks wonderful. Have a good eve.

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  5. Michaele,
    Some of my best finds are accidents. Who am I kidding, MOST of them. I wish you fast progress on the drying. I need to get back into some drying of my own... Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. Thanks Dr. Momi. I can't help it, there are so many cute fall decorations and they're free, I need to see them. hehe. I think I am addicted.

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  7. Thanks COUNTRY GAL! You always say the nicest things. You made my day.

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  8. Wow, this sounds wonderful...wondering though if I could use a water bath canner? I don't have a pressure canner. Always wanted one, but they really scare me...fear of finding the lid in the attic LOL.

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  9. Treasures- lol. Yes, you can and should use a waterbath canner, I just already had my pressure canner out, and I used it like a waterbath canner. I checked both the new Ball Blue Book and the book that came with my new pressure canner and both books say- waterbath method.

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  10. heidi...(first, i wanted to say thanks for stopping by my place :) and for taking the time to leave a note!! i appreciate it!)

    wow!! when your blog came into view...and i saw those mason jars...filled with homemade red sauce...my stomach started to growl!! YUM! and your tomatoes...(another) WOW! they're gorgeous!! then as i scrolled down, read your recipe...and spotted the pot of deliciousness. NOW i have to go eat!!
    ((i have never done any canning...but i WILL be back to wander some more...maybe i'll get a little inspired to try my hand at it. i have thought about it...just never motivated myself to do it))
    also...love the FALLing leaves...your quilt too! you have another follower...i'll be back... :)

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  11. Laurak@forestwalkart-
    Thanks for all those kind words. I love your blog. I hope you come back and visit my blog often and THANKS for following.

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  12. Love the fact that you came up with your own recipe, how cool! Nothing being canned here this week, just putting things in the freezer! :)

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  13. Heidi!Love the new look for Fall and my mouth is watering thinking about cheese enchilada's! Yum! Thanks for sharing this recipe... I'm printint it off for sure!
    Deb

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  14. Candy-
    My best moments are accidents, why fight it, I own em. I was so excited though, it is yummy and that sauce is so expensive to buy. I am jealous that you're freezing stuff, I gotta go look at your blog after I finish up here. I know nothing about freezing food except those items I buy frozen already, so I need to check it out.

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  15. Deb-
    Thanks for stopping by and for the compliment about my blog design. What you don't know is that these falling leaves are really an ancient Mayan mind control trick that will direct you back here after every new post. lol. Just kidding. Have a great week!

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My email address is whitewolfsummitfarmgirl@gmail.com.