The tomatoes in the garden are still producing like crazy, and they were just too nice not to do something with, so I decided to try a new spaghetti sauce recipe. This one is from Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving. I’d never canned a sauce that contained meat, as I have always just done a sauce and then added meat when I opened the jar. However, it would be nice to have something ready to go so all I have to do is open the jar, heat, and eat. I did modify the spices from the recipe. I added more oregano and also added 1 tablespoon of dried thyme and 2 tablespoons dried basil. Other than that, the sauce was very tasty. I also made tomato puree (wash, halve, cook, and run through a food mill) rather than doing the steps below to cook the tomatoes. To me, it eliminates a few steps and saves time, especially since the recipe called for running the tomatoes through a food mill anyway. I ended up with 15 pints, probably because I used mostly slicing tomatoes; maybe one-third of my tomatoes were paste ones. If you used mostly paste tomatoes, I would think the yield would be closer to what the recipe says.

Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

30 pounds tomatoes

2-1/2 pounds ground beef or sausage

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped and seeded green pepper or celery (I used green pepper)

1 pound mushrooms, sliced (optional – I used baby portobellas)

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried oregano

4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Wash tomatoes, removing stems and any bruised or discolored portions. Core and quarter 6 tomatoes and place in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes to release juices, stirring constantly. While maintaining a boil and stirring to prevent scorching, core and quarter additional tomatoes, adding them to the saucepan as you work. Make sure the mixture continues to boil vigorously while you add, stir, and crush the remaining tomatoes. When all tomatoes have been added, reduce heat and boil gently until tomatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.

Working in batches, press tomato mixture through a fine sieve or food mill. Discard peels and seeds. Set puree aside.

Prepare weighted-gauge pressure canner, jars, and lids.

In a large stainless steel skill, over medium heat, brown ground beef until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat. Add garlic, onions, green pepper, and mushrooms if using. Saute until vegetables are tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine reserved tomato puree, meat mixture, parsley, brown sugar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Add water to make a thinner sauce if desired (this will depend on what type of tomatoes you use – I used mostly slicing tomatoes, and my sauce was thin enough). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until heated through. (I cooked my sauce quite a bit longer than this to thicken it as it was rather thin.)

Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot sauce. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.

Place jars in pressure canner. Adjust water level, lock lid, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Vent stem for 10 minutes, then close vent. Continue heating to achieve 10 pounds of pressure. Process pints for 60 minutes, quarts for 70 minutes. (Please refer to your canner’s manual. If those instructions differ, follow your canner manual.)

Yield: About 9 pints or 5 quarts

Visit Canning and Cooking Iowa Style’s profile on Pinterest.