A Pretty Tasty, Basic Spaghetti Sauce

Howdy. Let’s get ready to feed our faces. Today, we’re gonna make s’ketti sauce from tomatoes.

First, wash up about 50 Roma tomatoes, then cut ’em in half lengthwise. Then you’ll want to scoop the seeds out with a spoon (or not–if you like ’em, leave ’em in).

Then turn on your grill to medium high. We’re gonna roast the tomatoes on the grill. I used my smoker grill so I can also get a little of that smoky taste. You’ll want to lay them skin side down, and leave them just long enough for them to get where their skins are ready to just fall off.

You can do them on a cookie sheet in your oven if you don’t want to do them outside. It will just take a little longer. Put them on a cookie sheet with the skin side down (cut side up) and let them go about two hours at 325.

Then take those skins off. They will just slip off, so the only hard thing will be to keep your fingers from getting burned. That being said, you might want to let them cool slightly before you do this. But I hate the waiting–let’s get a move on!

Then pile them in your crock pot, and cook ’em on low. If you have crock pot liners, use one so clean up is faster and easier.

To the tomatoes, add:

1/3 cup Jack Daniels (you can leave this part out or substitute broth)
5 or 6 cloves of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 whole medium onion, diced

You can add more stuff to it if you like, but this is a basic sauce that you will add additional things to when you go to use it.

Then let it cook down for quite awhile. I left mine in for almost a full day. Just stir it once in awhile so it does not burn or stick.

Then take the stick blender to it and whirr out any remaining tomato and onion chunks. Afterward, I had a little bit of diced onion that I threw back in and a little can of mushroom pieces we had in the cupboard, so this batch was not entirely chunk-free.

This made about 3 quarts of sauce. I had my wife can it, and it made three quart jars. There was enough left that I had a little on an omelet one morning for breakfast, then over some noodles for lunch.

So get our your spaghetti fork and the sprinkle cheese, put something on your plate to pile this sauce on, and get ready to feed your face!

See the printable: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce from Roma Tomatoes

Jim in Colorado blogs at Granddad’s Corner.

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