Growing up, my grandparents had a huge vegetable garden. When the tomatoes started coming in in the summer, Mom and Big Quin would both make lots of tomato sauce. They froze it so that we had homemade tomato sauce for lasagna and spaghetti sauce all fall and winter. When I got older and attempted Mom’s tomato sauce recipe I ran into two problems:

1.  The recipe starts with 1/2 bushel of tomatoes (28-30 lbs)
2.  This makes a TON of sauce and I don’t have a full size freezer to store it.

Given this I adapted the original recipe to use canned whole tomatoes and I cut the recipe to 1/4 of the original so it only makes about 1 gallon (16 cups) of sauce. Using canned tomatoes also saves a lot of time and effort since the skins have already been removed!!

This tomato sauce is the secret to my Mom’s lasagna and her spaghetti sauce. It is also great with albondigas (meatballs). I’ll post these recipes soon.

1 batch of tomato sauce = 4-5 lasagnas OR 4-5 batches of spaghetti sauce OR 6-7 batches of meatballs

Jump to equipment notes and detailed instructions. See Cook’s Illustrated for recommendations on the best brands of canned tomatoes.

5 from 1 reviews

Mom's Tomato Sauce

September 17, 2020

Servings: about 4 quarts

Difficulty: Easy

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By: wandercookeat

Ingredients

• 4 28oz-cans of whole tomatoes
• 2 medium onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 c. fresh parsley
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh basil
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh oregano
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions

• Step 1 Coarsely chop the onions, garlic, parsley, basil, and oregano.
• Step 2 In a food processor, add 1 can of tomatoes (including juice) and one quarter of the onions, garlic and herbs. Process for 20-30 sec until tomatoes are blended. Put in large stock pot. Repeat with remaining cans of tomatoes and veggies/herbs.
• Step 3 Add brown sugar, salt, and pepper to the stock pot with the tomatoes, veggies and herbs. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Step 4 When tomato sauce has reduced to a thick, uniform texture remove from heat and let cool for at least 30 min.
• Step 5 Pour into 3- or 2-cup freezer containers. Freeze until ready to use.

Jump to detailed instructions.

Equipment Notes

• I like using a food processor to process the tomatoes. However, this does leave the seeds in the sauce. (Once they go through the food processor you hardly notice them.) If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a regular blender or an immersion blender instead. If you use an immersion blender, just be sure to process the tomatoes before they get hot or you risk splattering hot tomato sauce on yourself.
• If you don’t have any of these appliances, don’t fear: You can make this sauce without processing the tomatoes, it will just be chunky instead of smooth. If you are going to take this approach finely chop the onions & herbs and mince the garlic. Break up the tomatoes with your hands as you put them in the pot. When you stir the sauce you can use the spoon to break up and large chunks of tomato.
• If you are a perfectionist and want to get the seeds out of your sauce: Use a food mill instead of the food processor. To use this approach, process the canned tomatoes using the food mill first (before adding the onions, etc.). Put the processed tomatoes in the stock pot. Add the onions, garlic, and herbs to the food processor and add a little of the processed tomatoes to it (for liquid). Process for 20-30 sec until the chunks of onion are the desired size.

Detailed Instructions

Step 1. Coarsely chop the onions, garlic, parsley, basil, and oregano.

Step 2. In a food processor, add 1 can of tomatoes (including juice) and one quarter of the onions, garlic and herbs. Process for 20-30 sec until tomatoes are blended. Put in large stock pot. Repeat with remaining cans of tomatoes and veggies/herbs. This blends up the tomatoes, veggies and herbs to a smooth consistency – no large chunks of tomato or onion.

Step 3. Add brown sugar, salt, and pepper to the stock pot with the tomatoes, veggies and herbs. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Step 4. When tomato sauce has reduced to a thick, uniform texture remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes or longer. This is so you don’t burn yourself when you pour the sauce into containers for freezing.

Step 5. Pour into 3-cup or 2-cup freezer containers. Freeze until ready to use. For lasagna and spaghetti sauce, I use a 3 c. container. For meatballs I use a 2-cup container.

Like the good southern girl that I am, one of the first things I learned to make was buttermilk biscuits. For almost every Sunday dinner of my childhood my grandmother, Big Quin, made biscuits and I was right there at her elbow helping out. Every time I make biscuits, I feel like I’m right back there in Big Quin’s kitchen. She learned to make biscuits from Alberta, my great-grandmother’s cook, who taught Big Quin all of my grandfather’s favorite dishes after they were married.  This is one of those recipes that was passed down by word of mouth. For your convenience, I have written it down and converted the ‘handful’ of shortening into a more specific unit of measure.

Skip to substitutions, serving suggestions or detailed instructions with pictures.

5 from 2 reviews

BQ's Buttermilk Biscuits

June 2, 2020

Servings: 12-14 small biscuits or 6-7 large biscuits

Difficulty: Easy

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By: wandercookeat

Ingredients

• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• light 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. shortening
• 1 c. buttermilk

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
• Step 2 Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Step 3 Mix in the shortening until it is incorporated evenly into the dry ingredients and there are no large lumps.
• Step 4 Add 3/4 of the buttermilk and mix in. If you still see a lot of dry flour, add more buttermilk. Once it is all moist and sticky, you’ve added enough. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH.
• Step 5 Roll dough on to floured surface. Pat to form into a disk that is about 1/2″ thick. If you are cutting large biscuits you may want to make them slightly thicker.
• Step 6 Cut biscuits using 2″ cutter for small biscuits or 2 3/4″ cutter for larger biscuits. Flour the bottom of the cutter to prevent the biscuits sticking to it. Place biscuits on cookie sheet.
• Step 7 Bake until the biscuits are golden brown on the bottom – 14-16 min for small biscuits, 15-18 min for larger biscuits.
• Step 8 Serve warm.

Substitutions

• Buttermilk: No buttermilk? No problem. See these substitutions from AllRecipes. I prefer the 1 Tbsp lemon juice + enough milk to make 1 cup method (stir these together, let sit 10 min before using for the milk to ‘sour’).

Serving Suggestions

• Hot out of the oven with butter and your favorite jelly OR apple butter
• For breakfast
  • With egg and cheese; bacon or sausage, egg & cheese
  • With sausage and gravy
  • Biscuit toast: cut in two, top with butter and toast till golden brown and top with jelly
  • Biscuit cheese toast: cut in two, top with cheddar or pimento cheese and toast until cheese melts
• For dessert as the base for Peach or Strawberry Shortcake

Detailed Instructions

Step 1-2. Prep ingredients and work station. Sift dry ingredients together. If you don’t have a sifter then use a wire whisk to whisk the dry ingredients together until they are well blended and don’t have any lumps.

Step 3. Mix in the shortening with your hand. Keep mushing it up until it resembles ‘a course meal’, which in old southern cookbook talk means all the shortening is incorporated evenly into the dry ingredients and there are no large lumps.

Step 4. This is the tricky part: how much buttermilk you actually need varies so you have to add the buttermilk gradually. I start by adding 3/4 c. and mix it in by hand. If you see dry flour, add more buttermilk. Once it is all moist and sticky, you’ve added enough. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. If you do, your biscuits will be tough. Do the minimum amount of mixing to get the dough to come together.

Note: If you add too much buttermilk at this stage, it will be really sticky. Don’t worry. When you roll it on to the counter to cut the biscuits just add a little extra flour to the outside as you pat out the dough.

Step 5. Roll dough on to floured surface and pat to form a disk. Again – do not overwork the dough.  No kneading is necessary. For small (2″) biscuits, make the a disk about 1/2″ thick. If you are cutting large biscuits you may want to make them a little thicker.

Step 6. Cut biscuits using 2″ cutter for small biscuits or 2 3/4″ cutter for larger biscuits. Flour the bottom of the cutter to prevent the biscuits sticking to it. Place biscuits on cookie sheet. After you cut the first round of biscuits, reshape the remaining dough into a small disk and cut the rest of the dough into biscuits and place them on the cookie sheet.

<Step 7. Bake the biscuits at 350˚ until golden brown on the bottom. Size matters. If you use a bigger biscuit cutter and/or make your biscuits fatter, they will take longer to cook. 2″ biscuits will be done in 14-16 min, 2 1/2″ – 2 3/4″ biscuits will take 15-18 min – longer if they are really fat.

Step 8. Serve warm. See serving suggestions.