I had lots of tomatoes ripen at once from the ones I had picked green before the frost. I mean, A LOT of tomatoes. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them but I started out making puree. I had about 18 cups of puree. What to do, what to do... Let's see, I don't need any more plain sauce, or diced tomatoes, or enchilada sauce or pizza sauce... not enough peppers for salsa... what's left? Hmm... barbecue sauce?
I did find a recipe that called for 20 cups of chopped tomatoes or about 16 cups of puree. So... it was a go. I tried the recipe as written... and then tweaked it. I didn't like the way it was spiced so I played around with spices until I got it how I liked it.
I ended up with 6 pints of lovely, thick, sweet/spicy barbecue sauce. Pulled pork, here we come! Not bad for a last minute decision from salvaged tomatoes. But this should be the last canning from the garden this year. I still have some green tomatoes but we should be able to eat them as they ripen- fresh or sauced for a meal from here on out. And I'm OK with no more tomato processing for the year... really. I have had enough of simmering tomatoes for the year. But no worries, by next August I'll be pumped again.
It was cold here today. We had a high of only about 45 today after a low of 28 this morning. Definitely fall-like. But it was a great afternoon for a few chores. K12 and I cleaned out the chicken coop and put in new bedding for the winter while I15 was off at the State Marching Band Contest. Brr... a chilly day to be marching. It's supposed to be another cold night tonight. Good thing V started the furnace.
It is fun to tweak a recipe ,I did one for my grandson's birthday .I made homemade lasagna with homemade sauce,I tweaked a little with dark strong coffee one recipe called for and fennel ,I didn't know that is what gave my lasagna recipe its good taste.I only bought the fennel to try this new diet ,but had such a hard time making the fennel tea with out a coffee grinder pr pestal and bowl.I improvised and used my mom's antique ice cream scooper as the pestal--lol
ReplyDeleteI almost never follow recipes. I view them more as 'suggestions'. Except when baking. Cooking is an art, baking is science!!
DeleteB-B-Q sauce! What a good idea! Up here in northern MN we don't have the problem with too many tomatoes but I still remember when we lived in Illinois. I was soooo glad when the frost finally hit and no more tomatoes were to be had out on the vines!
ReplyDeleteHmm, finding a balance between not enough and too many tomatoes would be nice. But does such a thing exist??
DeleteThe sauce sounds great! We are smoking a pork butt tomorrow and I hope to turn one of my canned jars of hot sauce into a good vinegar mop for it, I love pork BBQ!
ReplyDeleteMmm, smoked pork- YUM!! We did a pork but in the crock pot today since V and I were out of town most of the day. At least dinner was made by the time we got home. The leftovers were pulled and will be had for BBQ sandwiches later this week.
DeleteI was wondering where you found your recipe for enchilada sauce? I love the idea of canning my own!
ReplyDeleteHello Dessy! Welcome! I kind of made up the enchilada sauce recipe by adapting a salsa one. Everything got pureed (peppers and onions and all) and then rather than cilantro I added cumin- that's the secret ingredient to making it taste like enchilada sauce.- play with the spices until it tastes right. I simmered it until it got to the right consistency and then canned it. As long as you keep the ratio of veggies to acid the same you can play with the spices all you want.
DeleteSorry, I know that isn't a very good answer.
J