A Saucy Experiment

I have been meaning for a while now to try making tomato sauce from scratch.  I mean, really from scratch....no canned tomatoes, no processed/packaged tomato paste....but actually starting with fresh, whole, raw fruit.

Well, yesterday, I did it.  Completely without a recipe and without even researching beforehand.  I invented this all on my own, and Hubby and I both think it's pretty darn good!

I started with about 4½-5 pounds of tomatoes.  I bought the most affordable ones there were at our market, because, well, this was an experiment after all and I didn't want to waste too much money if it turned out to be a total fail.

Preheating the oven to 400-degrees, I chopped them up and piled them into our largest enameled cast iron dutch oven.

I decided to mash them up a bit before popping them into the oven.  In hindsight, I doubt this step was necessary, but since I did it, I am recounting it here.

3 hours later, this is what they looked like:

Next, I put the pan on top of the stove and started the process of simmering and stirring every 10-15 minutes.  But first, I whipped out the stick blender and pureed it all.  At this point, I also added about a half cup of vegetable stock (also homemade from scratch - we keep it in the freezer in ice cube size portions), because I wanted to loosen up the consistency a bit.

After a little while, it was time to add spices.  I went with about 10 cloves of fresh garlic (minced), dried oregano, dried basil, salt, black pepper, a small amount of red pepper flakes, and a teaspoon of sugar.

After about another hour and a half of simmering and stirring, basically until I felt the garlic was cooked and starting to dissolve, I decided it was done.  I gave it one more ride on the stick blender, and this was the final result:

(before the final blending)

(after the final blending)

Finally, we "packaged" it into old salsa jars that we had saved, and into the freezer they went.  These are just the right size for a meal for just the two of us.  :)

Now, I know that there are other ways to make sauce from total scratch, such as pureeing the tomatoes while raw and/or doing all of the cooking on the stove top (skipping the oven completely).  This was just the way I chose to experiment, and it turned out quite well.  I am sure I will try other methods in the future, but one thing is for sure....we will never (well, at least very rarely) buy prepared tomato sauce or canned tomatoes again.  :)

As for the cost, this turned out to be approximately $5.00 for what amounts to about a jar and a half's worth of store-bought sauce....so it's a little more pricey, but we think well worth it.