Canned Homemade Pasta Sauce

This is one of my most exciting posts yet and I am so excited to share this recipe with you! Below, I give you a step by step tutorial on making homemade pasta sauce, canning it, and then how to prepare a pasta dish with the sauce. 

What's great about this recipe, is that there's nothing unhealthy about it, it's filled with vegetables, and has no added sugar. Read on, and I hope you enjoy and are filled with my wisdom, lol.

This recipe made a little over 5 pints. If you want to increase the recipe, here's some helpful tips:

1 carrot to one can of tomatoes

1 celery stalk to one can of tomatoes

1/2 white onion to one can of tomatoes
1 bay leaf to one can of tomatoes

2 garlic cloves to one can of tomatoes

These are the basic ingredients, but you can add all sorts of veggies to them to make them delicious. 

Here's my sauce recipe, as well as a picture tutorial below:

1/2 white onion, diced

1 leek, diced

4 garlic cloves, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

6 mushrooms, halved or quartered

1 bell pepper, roasted and chopped

3 Roma tomatoes, roasted and chopped

1 can of tomato paste

2 cans crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves

olive oil

salt and pepper

So, as far as equipment, you'll need a canner and I got this canner at Walmart for $20. You'll need a stock pot (large soup pot) and some pint jars with lids. Some canning tongs would be helpful, as well as a towel to leave the jars to dry. 

Just to show you a head of time, these are all the ingredients minus the tomato paste, olive oil, salt and pepper.

In the bowl are some roasted red peppers and tomatoes. 

Here's how to do that, it's super simple and quick:

Set the oven rack to as high as it will go, without letting the product touch the top of the oven.

Put the oven on broil, which will hopefully set it to as high as it will go, 500 degrees.

Once heated, put the vegetables/fruit on the pan and into the oven. After 5 minutes, open and turn the vegetables/fruit to get an even char.

Once out of the oven, place them in a bowl and cover with Saran wrap, this will help you peel the skin off really easily. Then, chop up the peppers and tomatoes and set aside.

First, salt and pepper the onions, leeks and garlic after you throw them into the pot, salt will help draw out the water and sugar. Sweat them (which means cooking until translucent).

Then, add the carrots and celery. Interesting Tip: Onions, Celery, and Carrots are a base for many french and Italian cooking. It is known as a mirepoix (pronounce "meer-pwah").

Once the carrot and celery are cooked down, add the mushrooms, bay leaves, roasted pepper and tomatoes. Stir and cook.

Add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes. You're probably wondering why I'm not using fresh tomatoes. Here's the deal: Canned tomatoes are almost better than fresh. The reason why is because the people who put this product into cans, wait until the precise ripe moment to pick them, then they can them in their own juices which adds tons of flavor. I picked out two cans of crushed tomato that didn't have any other ingredients other than a little salt and lemon juice. 

Add a can of tomato paste to help thicken the sauce.

Turn the heat down and cover to simmer for an hour. Stir frequently to prevent scorching.

Sanitize and heat the jars in boiling water for 20 minutes before using. Laddle the sauce into the pint jars and only fill to the base of the neck. Place the lids on and screw the rings on tightly. Place the jars in the canner (this batch made a little over 5 pints, I saved the remainder in my fridge to use). Then place the lid over the canner. Leave to can for 35 minutes.

After you take them out of the canner, place on a cloth to air dry and cool down. They'll make popping sounds as they cool down, which is a good sign. After several or more hours, press down on the lids (I just checked the next morning). If they're firm, they're sealed. If they bounce back...oops.

How to Make Pasta the Right Way

I like to measure out my pasta before I use it to prevent myself from easily cooking too much. A serving is 2oz, so I measured 3.5 oz (I was hungry). 

Now don't feel too guilty about eating this meal and remember "everything in moderation." 2oz of pasta really isn't a lot, but 4oz was a little too much. Doing a serving and a half for myself was just right. My sauce recipe is basically all fruit and vegetables without any added sugar. Of course pasta comes with carbs, but eating a balanced healthy meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner keeps me from binging on unhealthy things through out the day. If you want, use whole grain pasta (I will never understand why anyone would want to do that).

Salt your water before you bring it to the boil (this is crucial!!). Once the water is boiling, add the pasta, turn the heat to medium/low, and cover. I used Rotini pasta and it took about 8-9 minutes to cook.

In a skillet, pour a little olive oil (for taste) and turn the heat to med, med/low. We're going to heat up the sauce first. I used a spoon to get the contents out of the jar rather than pouring, just to make sure I got some veggies and not just sauce. I don't like my pasta too saucy, so I try to do an even sauce/pasta ratio. Eyeball it if you can.

After the pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and immediately place in the pan with the sauce. Pour in about 1 Tbs of the pasta water into the pan as well. The starch from the water will help thicken the sauce as well as provide a silky texture.

Chiffonade some basil beforehand, if you don't know what that means, here's a video to help you out: It's basically just stacking the basil, rolling it and then cutting it into strips.

Add the basil to the pasta and mix in.

Garnish with a pinch of Parmesan cheese and serve. This is so delicious and I will fight you if you tell me it's not healthy!