Canning: Pizza Sauce

Homemade Pizza Sauce and Homemade Mozzarella

I have several friends who work in the Backyard Farms, a greenhouse based in Madison, ME that produces fresh tomatoes year-round. Two of them gave me tomatoes, totaling 2&1/2 boxes. I used some fresh, and before they turned bad, I thought of canning them as pizza sauce (it used to be that, when I made pizza at home, I would buy a jar of pizza sauce, which we often found inferior).  We also bought shredded mozzarella and other toppings.

Since I have been making mozzarella cheese with fresh cow's milk, I thought I should also make our own pizza sauce. I picked a recipe that had rave reviews from food.com. It was the first time when we had our supper last night that we used it for homemade pizza.  It received high praises from my greatest critic (my husband), saying that it was even better than our favorite store-bought pizza (freshly baked pizza from Al's Pizza).  That is, after I added 1/4 tsp to the pint of pizza sauce after I had hubby taste it before spreading onto the pizza dough. He even reminded me that I should keep the recipe.

Almost all of the ingredients in the recipe can be grown or were grown in my garden (with lemon juice as my exception...unless I become successful in growing Meyer's lemon, at least; I also bought the celery seeds, but will try growing celery this year).  As for the sugar, I replaced it with honey, which came from my SIL who does beekeeping.

So, for purposes of "keeping the recipe," I am posting it here the way I made it (no photos of the early stages of making it).

Ingredients:

25-28 tomatoes
2 large onions, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 tsp pepper
1 T honey
2 T parsley
1 T oregano
1 T basil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp celery seeds
1 T salt
1/2 tsp summer savory

Instructions:

Cut the tomatoes in half and place in large roasting pans.  Add the onions and garlic cloves.  Drizzle the olive oil on top.  Roast at 425ºF for about 30 minutes or until the veggies are browned real good and garlic is fragrant.

Drain the tomato juice off.

Use a food mill to remove the seeds and skins. Mine is a Kitchen Aid fruit and vegetable strainer attachment.

Place in a crockpot large enough to contain the tomato sauce and add all the other ingredients. Cook on high uncovered until the desired consistency is achieved (took about the whole day for me). Stir occasionally. (Meanwhile, I was doing other chores).

Make it smoother by using either a stick blender (also called immersion blender) like I had, or transferring to a blender and blenderizing until smooth.

Heat up some more until you are sure you want the consistency. Prepare your lids and jars (I like using pints) by sterilizing them (I use a steam canner) for at least 10 minutes at 180ºF steam, then ladle the sauce into the jars, wipe the rips, place the lids and bands, then process in either a water bath canner or the steam canner for 25 minutes.

Almost like making smoothies using the stick blender

Ladling the pizza sauce onto the homemade pizza dough

The finished homemade pizza that got rave reviews from my family

Marcato Biscuits (Cookies)

I bought a cookie press sometime last year, foreseeing some cookie-making for cookie swap come Christmas...but in the busy-ness of the Holidays, I did not actually get to practice with my new gadget until after Christmas.

The motivation I had to get myself a cookie press was when hubby previously commented on lengua de gato that made me recall this neat gadget which my Nanay used to have (although I never actually saw her use it).

I got one that I realized now is too pricey, it seems, as I perused amazon.com for the same item. (Probably, amazon did not have the $14.99 at the time I purchased mine).  But I guess,  with this price and the good reviews as to how sturdy it is, I think I made a good choice nevertheless. Just out of curiosity, I got myself this $14.99 to see if it is the same sturdy construction. Then I will update you readers who might be interested to get it.

My first cookies were overbaked, tough, and brown.  I let hubby try one and he suggested I bake them for a shorter time. He then liked the ones baked only up to the point that edges start to turn brown.  I also had to get used to pumping out the dough, and to try not greasing the baking sheet. Probably oven temps and environmental conditions and baking pan differences accounted for my initial results despite following the recipe in the manual.  After I adjusted the baking time and omitted greasing the baking sheets (I used insulated nonstick aluminum), my hubby now has a new favorite homemade cookie. He can finish a whole batch in two days. (Sadly, my kids and I are not that crazy over this; we like the lengua de gato better.)

This is the first recipe I will post for cookie press.

Basic dough recipe:

500 g (~ 1 lb) flour
250 g (~1/2 lb) sugar
250 g (~ 1/2 lb or 2 sticks) butter
pinch of salt
2-3 oz milk
3 egg yolks

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F and place the rack at the middle.

Melt the butter in the microwave for about a minute and stir; set aside in room temp. Place the flour into a bowl mixing it with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour the egg yolks in the center and mix the dough with a fork. Add the butter previously melted, then the milk, and knead with your hands until completely uniform and soft.

Coming up is another recipe that I and the kids preferred, but my husband likes ok (he still prefers the more dense recipe above).

Filipino-Italian Spaghetti

I am currently experimenting to come up with a recipe for monay...but I don't want to wait for the results of that before I make another post, so I thought I'd post about this recipe even though most likely, my kids will (eventually) be the only ones perusing it and actually cooking it.

I love the Italian style spaghetti...the one like that in Sbarro's...very tomato-ey. Sometimes I use my whole-packed tomatoes (drained). If pressed for time, I grab a jar of Classico pasta sauce. (When I had my own canned pasta sauce, I used that as well.)

However, my kids are not too fond of that. They will eat it, but not favorited.

One time, my nephew and niece were with us and I thought of preparing spaghetti that was sweet, and with hotdogs, like the Filipino style spaghetti. I knew it would be a winner because every kid loves hotdogs! So I set aside unsweetened spaghetti sauce for me and hubby, and the rest was sweetened with hotdogs.

Everyone, including my sons, even the BIG BOY (hubby), liked it better. (I was surprised when hubby got intrigued, him being a hotdog fan as well, and actually preferred it.) Nephew said, "This is even better than my mom's spaghetti!" (Shhhh, don't ever tell her that!). I have to admit I like it better, too.

Any truly Italian would laugh at the idea of hotdogs in spaghetti...

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 lb ground beef
14-oz 4-cheese Classico pasta sauce
5 pcs red hotdogs (WA Bean & Sons), sliced
basil, oregano parsley
salt and pepper to taste
sugar to taste (3 tbsp for me)

Instructions:
Boil pasta as instructed in the package. (Stirring in the first few minutes the pasta is in the boiling water will prevent them from sticking together. No need for oil, as how my hubby thinks it does.)

Sautee garlic and onion. Add ground beef until browned. Add pasta sauce (rinse jar with about 1/4 cup of water twice and add to saucepan) and hotdogs. Season with salt and pepper and sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes for flavors to blend, stirring from time to time.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Meanwhile, I am gonna grace myself with the wonderful performance of Charice featuring one of her newest songs in her upcoming album...(pasensya na kayo; I am such a big fan...I am so mesmerized by her.)

Chicken Alfredo with Fettuccine Pasta

I got the recipe for this on the box of the fettuccine (grocery brand). But while it did not contain the chicken, I added cubes of chicken breast. And when I tasted it, it lacked something, so I added the sour cream.

Husband liked it so well he asked to bring some for his lunch pack the next day. As long as I do not add veggies on such recipes (which I tend to do often, for health reasons), he is all set. So I just served pickles on the side. Shown on this plate is kosher dills (sliced version of my dill pickles, which I chilled only, not processed in water bath).


INGREDIENTS:
1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
1 lb Fettuccine
3 cups heavy cream
12 tbsp butter
1 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream

PROCEDURE:
Cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is "al dente," drain and set aside. Meanwhile, heat large skillet and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Melt the butter and let clarify, then brown the chicken cubes in it. Add the heavy cream and cook to a medium consistency while constantly stirring. Add fettuccine and parmesan. Serve pasta and sauce separately in case you will have leftovers.

TIPS: When reheating the sauce, it is better to do so on the cooktop instead of microwave, because the fat tends to separate. Reheat on low, stirring constantly. The stages will be such that it will seem the oil is separating, but keep on stirring. Once the sticky part starts to heat up well (later than the butter part), it will eventually blend.