My San Marzano plants really produced this year. Most summers I’m lucky to get my spaghetti sauce made and maybe some salsa before blight takes over, but this summer, my four plants really made me work to find something different to can. I decided to try out the Roasted Tomato Soup recipe in The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. I also had tons of basil and onion in the garden, so this was an easy way to help take care of those.

Roasted Tomato Soup

8 pounds plum tomatoes, cored and halved crosswise

5 teaspoons salt, divided

2 teaspoons ground black pepper, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup tightly packed basil leaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove seeds from tomatoes. Arrange tomatoes cut side up on large rimmed baking sheets. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until tomatoes are very soft. Cool. Peel and coarsely chop.

Heat olive oil in a 6-quart stainless steel or enameled Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or until very tender but not brown, stirring occasionally.

Add wine and cook uncovered for 10 minutes or until wine evaporates, stirring often. Stir in tomatoes, stock, and basil. Cook for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Process in a blender in batches (or use a stick blender) until smooth.

Return tomato mixture to Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer. Ladle hot soup into a hot jar, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fingertip tight. Place jar on rack in a pressure canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.

Place lid on canner and turn to locked position. Adjust heat to medium high. Vent steam for 10 minutes. Place the counter weight or weighted gauge on vent. Bring pressure to 10 pounds for a weighted-gauge canner or 11 pounds for a dial-gauge canner.

Process pint jars for 50 minutes or quart jars for 60 minutes. Turn off heat. Cool canner to zero pressure. Let stand 5 more minutes before removing lid.

Cool jars in canner 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

Yield: About 6 pints or 3 quarts

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