6/11/2024 – This is an experiment of roasting the veggies, including the tomatoes, rather than the usual boiling water to remove skins, sauteing veggies, and a long simmer. The roasted veggies in the Italian Marinera turned out great and the process is much easier than boiling, peeling, sauteing, etc. This experiment turned out great. The four half-sheets of mix yielded 6 quarts of rich, flavorful, chunky marinara sauce.

We will also have the drippings/juice to make our new tomato basil soup. After Mary added fresh tomatoes, onion, and diced carrots she had 1.5 quarts of fantastic soup.

Ingredients per half-sheet pan:

• 1 Bell Pepper
• 1 ~3-inch diameter onion
• 3 stalks of celery
• 4 garlic cloves
• Tomatoes from our garden to fill the sheet as in the photos
• EV Olive Oil
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 2 heaping Tbsp Kit’s creole seasoning

The Process

1. Trim the tomatoes of interior and exterior blemishes and ugly spots. Did not peal.
2. chop the celery into 2 to 3-inch sticks
3. cut the onion into quarters, operating each into multi-layer pieces
4. chop the bell peppers into 1-inch slices then cut them in half
5. cut the garlic cloves in half
6. drizzle on the EVOO
7. shake on black pepper and salt like putting it on a steak to grill
8. shake on the creole seasoning using a spoon from the quart “stockpile” jar
9. using your hands mix and turn until the oil is coating all the pieces and the spices are evenly mixed
10. rotate tomatoes to skin-side up as much as possible
11. put into the preheated oven set to roast
12. roast until there are some black charred tips; about 30 minutes
13. ladle with a slotted spoon into the food processor
14. chop in the food processor to a rough chunky consistency
15. fill plastic freezer containers and tighten the lid
16. When cooled to room temperature put into the freezer.

Note – We saved the “juice” from the tomatoes and other veggies to make a tomato soup that great. We got 1.5 qt. from these four sheet pans.