Oh No Another Tomato! Tomato Preserving Recipes
I am just a small-time suburban gardener. I usually only grow a Roma tomato plant, a slicing tomato plant, a few green pepper plants, oregano, chives, and a few random items for the growing season. It is just my husband and myself, I don’t have a large family to feed. However, we love the flavor of home grown produce and knowing that you are cooking and eating as healthy and as organic as possible.
Throughout the harvesting season I am looking for creative ways to use my tomatoes and not let any go to waste. Of course you can always use tomatoes on sandwiches, or on a margherita pizza, or in a delicious pasta pomodoro during the active harvest season. But even during the harvesting season there is an abundance of tomatoes that come ripe at the same time. I don’t like to waste and have learned a few key recipes that help to store and preserve my delicious tomato crop, and I am going to share them as I feel they are a good base of recipes.
My husband and I used to enjoy Jack’s Fresh Salsa for Mexican Mondays, due to the freshness and lack of artificial ingredients in the blend. Since we go through a lot of salsa, I was looking to find a recipe that mimics the flavor with my own fresh tomatoes and peppers. I came up with this recipe after not being able to find an imitation recipe online.
Imitation Jack’s Special Salsa
Ingredients:
12-14 Roma tomatoes diced
½ cup red onion diced
½ cup green pepper
½ cup cilantro (optional, I make with and without)
2 jalapeno peppers diced fine (remove seeds from 1 of the peppers for less heat)
4 tsp minced garlic or 4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of lime juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp salt
Instructions:
1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together, yes that simple. Allow to develop in the fridge for at least an hour before eating.
Notes:
-Divide into freezer containers and freeze for future use. Freeze for 8-12 months. Set in the fridge to thaw for a couple of days before using.
=If you don’t like hand chopping you can also use a food processor to chop the vegetables. I usually do the peppers and onion first then save the tomatoes for the last add to make it less soupy.
Just like Mexican Mondays are a tradition Pizza Fridays are as well in our house. Pizza sauce is another great way to preserve your tomato harvest. I have 2 recipes that I use when making pizza sauce, a quick recipe and a stove top recipe. Both yield a similar flavor and are equally as good.
Quick Pizza Sauce
Ingredients:
12 Roma or San Marzano tomatoes from the garden washed and cut into quarters
6 oz can tomato paste
2 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic or garlic cloves
1 TBSP dried oregano (I grow and dry my own)
1 tsp granulated white sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like a spicier sauce)
Instructions:
1. This is where the quick comes in. Put all ingredients into a blender or Ninja until tomatoes are completely blended into a sauce consistency. Use that night or store in freezer tight containers for 6-8 months. Put in refrigerator to thaw overnight before using.
Stovetop Pizza Sauce
Ingredients:
10 Roma or San Marzano Tomatoes rinsed and cut into quarters
1 TBSP minced garlic about 4 cloves
2 TBSP olive oil
¼ tsp red chili flakes, more if you like it spicier
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp black pepper
First take the rinsed tomato quarters and put them into a stand blender and puree to a liquid/puree consistency. Put olive oil in pot or Dutch oven and heat on medium heat until warm then add garlic and stir for 1-2 minutes until aromatic. Then stir in the red chili flakes. Add the tomato puree and stir, set heat to medium low and allow sauce to thicken for 15-20 minutes. Put lid on pot during this process as the sauce tends to splatter while it is reducing. Stir occasionally to prevent burning and sticking tomatoes to bottom of pot. Then add salt, sugar, oregano, basil and pepper. Stir. Cook on medium low for another 10 minutes until sauce reduces to desired sauce consistency. Allow sauce to cool before storing. Pizza sauce keeps in refrigerator for 2 weeks and freezes for up to 6-8 months in freezer containers.
Other tomato recipes that are worthy of trying
Easy homemade tomato jam. It goes great on hamburgers in place of onion and tomatoes and makes a nice substitute when you cannot have fresh.
A smokey sweet BBQ sauce is great for BBQ chicken pizza, ribs, and on hamburgers. I add ½ cup of my favorite whiskey towards the end of cooking to add a nice kick of flavor. I wish I would have made more of this for the season and froze it as we ran out way too soon.
I hope that sharing some of my favorite ways to preserve tomatoes as helped you to preserve your crop.