Although many recipes are very good when you use store-bought canned tomatoes (like Pomì), they reach the next level of excellence when you can use tomatoes you have canned yourself.  My wife and I discovered this when we lived in the Chicago area, and found many varieties of beautiful heirloom tomatoes at a local farmer’s market. We found that the yellow, green, and orange heirlooms provided a lovely balance for fish recipes requiring tomato, while the red heirlooms were milder and more tasty than the store-bought tomatoes. Now, we always keep a supply of canned tomatoes on hand.

Ingredients

  • Ball mason jars and new lids (you can buy these jars at Walmart and in many supermarkets) – washed and drained
  • Fresh basil
  • Lots and lots of mature, clean tomatoes – we typically buy 50 pounds of them from the market and spend the weekend cleaning and canning.

How to make this recipe

 

  • Put a very large pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil
  • Carefully drop the clean tomatoes (in batches) into the water
      1. Leave them there for a minute or two until the skin begins to split
  • Use a slotted spoon to lift the tomatoes from the water and put them on a large flat serving dish to cool
  • Do steps 2 and 3 multiple times until all the tomatoes are ready
  • Peel the tomatoes and put them into the canning jars, filling to near the top (you could also look at the instructions on the Ball Canning website
  • Add one leaf of clean, fresh basil to the jar
  • Use a wooden tool to make sure that there are no air bubbles in the jar
  • Screw on the top of the jar, finger-tight
  • Place the jars into a large pot of cold water or a pressure cooker, with at least 3 inches of water covering the jars.  
    1. You can follow the instructions on the Ball Ball Canning website for cooking.
    2. I do not follow instructions and do as I saw my grandmother did: At sea level, since the water boils, I wait 20 minutes, then I turn off the fire and leave the pot on the stove until it cools down (about 16 hours). Then you can store the jars for several years. However, the time it takes to cook the tomatoes is influenced by the altitude. So, if you live on top of a mountain, you may want to wait 30 minutes or so before turning the fire off.

Italiano:

Come fare la conserva: Tanti pomodori maturi, bollire 1-2 min appena la pelle si spacca metterli in uno scolapasta. Farli raffreddare. Sbuccciarli e metterli in barattoli di vetro per fare conserva -si vendono ovunque, precedentemente lavati in lavastoviglie -che disinfetta molto meglio che lavando a mano. Riempire fino all’olrlo e mettere una foglia di basilico fresco -togliere bolle d’aria con una forchetta. Chiudere il barattolo con gli appositi coperchi. Mettere in un grande pentolone e coprire d’acqua fredda. I barattoli devono essere interamente sommersi. Accendere il fuoco al massimo, da quando bolle, aspettare 20 min. poi spegnere il fuoco e lasciare raffreddare fino al mattino successivo. Pomodori pronti: si conservano vari anni.