Tomatoes, Tomatoes

73°f this morning, 82% humidity. Ugh. Zun is shining again. A small shower yesterday morning, but still no substantial rain.

The Black Krim tomatoes are outdoing themselves, despite the lack of rain. Mulch and watering have kept them thriving, luckily. We have picked over 2 bushels from 8 plants and they are still going strong.

I did not plan on canning any more tomatoes,  but here I am, canning tomatoes.  I tried Iris's easy pizza sauce the other day and used her method of using a flour tortilla for the crust, putting the crust in a skillet, spreading the sauce and toppings, putting the lid on the pan, and heating until the cheese melts. Amazing! Lovely thin crust, perfectly browned, and nicely melted cheese. 

So after finding out how easy this method was, I decided to can some pizza sauce. I rifled off of Iris's recipe, which she said came from Jamie Oliver, the TV Chef. I didn't have truffle oil, and we love garlic, and I added basil and oregano to the sauce. It is so delicious.

I started with tomatoes, just roughly cut up.

Added black olives,, herbs, salt, red wine, a little lemon juice because these are very sweet tomatoes,  and cooked it down until it was very thick.

Then I added another step: I used my immersion blender to turn it all into a smooth, thick sauce. Jarred it up, processed in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, and done. A 10 quart bucket of tomatoes cooked down to 6 half-pints.

Delicious. I took a bite before I remembered to take a photo!

I will make another batch today, I think. Each half-pint makes 4 little pizzas, so I want to have enough to give some away. 

Last night two of our grandchildren were in Charleston, where Grace was taking the bar exam again. They invited us out to dinner at the Outback. What a treat! We had such a good visit with them. Grace finishes the exam today. Please send good vibes/thoughts/prayers her way! This is her third time, and she is so wanting to be done with it.

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