7/2/2023 – We made cajun marinara like last year and froze it in quart and pint containers for easy meals in the winter. Started with a 25 lb. box of canning tomatoes from Sessions Farm Market (only $15) as our tomatoes are not producing this year. We also got the bell peppers there as our bells are still too small.
- Skinned, cleaned, and chopped the tomatoes into large chunks.
- Roughly chopped the veggies. We again targeted the 3:2:1 ratio of onions, celery, and bell peppers.
- Onions – ~10 medium to small
- Celery – ~20 ribs
- Bell Peppers – 5 large
- Garlic – ~ 12 medium/large fingers
- Sauteed the veggies in a No. 10 and No. 12 cast iron skillets until the edges were softening.
- Mixed the veggies with the tomato chunks in layers in the big SS stock pot and stirred to mix everything uniformly. Added Kit’s Creole Seasoning by shaking it into the pot a couple of times until it looked right and smell good…like last year. Also added our red pepper flakes from last year.
- Stirred about every 15 minutes with the heat on medium for at least an hour until the top was showing a bit of simmering. Continued stirring occasionally.
- After a couple of hours, the liquid in the veggies and tomatoes had begun to cook out and there was too much liquid. Removed the lid and let it cook down over the next 2-3 hours. The level dropped 2+ inches.
- Cooled overnight and Mary put it into various containers and into the big freezer.
Note – In the top image is a 4-cup measuring cup filled with tomato juice. That was caught under the collection of skins and other parts that drained into a pot and then moved to the measuring cup. That juice was not used in the marinara.
