annual vat of sauce...

I do this every fall. Normally I would pull out the 12 qt stock pot or larger (I think we have a 30 qt that I've used before...), and basically simmer crushed tomatoes w/ a few pounds of italian sausage and meatballs for the better part of a weekend afternoon. It's always been a good meal for cool weather, and then provides a few quarts of homemade sauce to freeze for later. This year, in order to manage it as a weeknight meal for a crowd, I tried out the sauce in the crockpots instead. Overall, except for a little overflowing sauce in one of my pots (or more accurately OUT one of my pots) it went pretty well. I was worried about whether or not the sauce would thicken properly since usually I rely on evaporation out of the stock pot for that so I added tomato paste. One step I wanted to try that I completely forgot about though was to add the tomato paste to the pan I used to brown the sausage. America's test kitchen use this technique to deepen the tomato flavor. They use the tomato paste to deglaze the pan after browning the meet and veggies, and "toast" the paste till it starts caramelizing. Oh well, that's what happens when prepping this late at night to be ready to cook the next morning. I used sweet italian sausage since we're heat wimps but sweet, hot or a combo would be fine. For convenience this time, I also used store-bought frozen meatballs but I usually make my own in huge batches to freeze as well.

This recipe needed 2 crocks for the volume. I used a 6 qt and a 3.5 qt.
3 lbs of italian sausage
3 lbs of meatballs (thawed if frozen)
6 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 onion
1 head of garlic, peeled
handful each of dried parsley, basil, oregano
2 bay leaves
1-2 tbsp of sugar and/or salt (optional)
2 slow cooker bags

Brown the sausage before adding to the crock pot. Divide between 2 bags.
Add the meatballs, onion, garlic, and herbs. At this point, if you are prepping in advance, tie off the bags and refrigerate until ready to cook.
Divide the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes between the 2 bags.
Cook on low for 8-10 hrs stirring occasionally.

Notes: I left the onion whole to fish out later since hubby doesn't like having onion chunks, but you can chop it if you prefer. Same with the garlic cloves. The salt and sugar really depend on the tomatoes you use. I like a slightly sweeter sauce so I'll add the sugar to balance out stronger acidity. Most of the canned tomatoes I get are already salty enough so I rarely need more. And if you like your sauce w/ a kick, crushed red pepper and hot italian sausage would be a welcome addition.

Just a few thoughts on slow cooker bags - they are usually about $2 for a package and for the time saved in cleaning for us are worth every cent! I think they are the same material as the oven bags used for roasting turkeys so if you have a larger crock, you can probably do the same w/ an oven bag. We find them really convenient because I can pack the ingredients into the bag the night before, leave the crock set up on the counter, not have lots of fridge space occupied by an entire crock, and in the morning just drop the bag into the cooker. And nothing crusts to the crock so clean up is nice and easy - a quick soap and rinse by hand or dropping it into the dishwasher, no scrubbing needed.

a little belated...

It got a little (more) hairy in the last couple weeks so I'm behind on posting. I'm now working again and that has added a nice heap to the chaos in our household. So let's see, what I have I been up to in the kitchen....

1. Freezing baby purees - I don't know about the peas since I haven't thawed them yet but the squash got a little weird when thawed - the water and the squash bits separated so it was really runny. I'm not sure how to recover it. Probably reprocess it in the blender. I'll find out how the peas look this weekend once thawed.

2. Winter squash soup - I get a lot of requests for this recipe so I'll post this one. I actually made it about a week ago lacking apples, and with an attempt to keep it vegetarian for my mother-in-law. However, I didn't have veg broth, so I used water and I think it came out kinda weak flavor-wise. As with most of my cooking, the quantities used aren't really exact. I tend to eyeball amounts or add to taste/correct consistency/etc.

2 winter squashes (butternut or other), halved, roasted, flesh scooped out (alternatively use canned pumpkin puree, or frozen squash puree for shortcut)
1 apple diced
1 onion chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
~1 tbsp olive oil or butter
~3 cans broth (chicken or vegetable)
salt, pepper, cinnamon, and curry powder to taste
half and half or cream (optional)

Saute the apple and onion in oil/butter until softened.
Add garlic and ginger, saute until fragrant.
Add squash, broth and seasonings. Simmer for ~20-30 minutes.
Puree in batches in a blender or using an immersion blender.
Serve in bowls w/ a little cream poured over top.
Note: the soup freezes very well as well as reheats well so long as the cream has not been added. I usually make it w/o dairy for storage, and then add the cream to individual servings. It's also quite good without any dairy which is how I'll be enjoying it this fall...