30lbs tomatoes
2 1/2 lbs minced beef
5 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped green pepper or celery
1lb mushrooms, sliced (optional)
4 tblsp chopped parsley
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
Optionally add water for a thinner sauce.
Method:
Brown the beef and drain off the fat. Add the garlic, onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Sauté for around 3 minutes until tender. Add the tomatoes, herbs, sugar and seasoning. Add water if a thinner sauce is wanted. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes.
Ladle into hot jars with 1 inch headspace. Process at 10lb pressure for 60 minutes.
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| Jar of hot Bolognese sauce before sealing and processing |
My version which made 13 pint jars in the end:
3 quarts (roughly) of a mixture of chopped fresh and tinned tomatoes
3lb minced beef
Handful dried garlic flakes
2 chopped onions
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped stick celery
1lb mushrooms, sliced
2 handfuls dried italian herb mix
3 Kallo beef stock cubes
Generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine
I was careful to leave the inch headspace this time and then processed the jars at 11lb (nearer 12lb actually) for 75 minutes, just because that's what worked well for the chilli and I'd much rather over process than under.
The quality isn't great in the video above but it's showing the inside of the canner after it had been left to cool and de-pressurise. The jars were still boiling like mad! I'm not sure how long this was after I'd turned it off ... maybe half an hour? Just goes to show how incredibly hot it gets in there! Being much more careful about the headspace worked because the jars didn't overflow this time.
I used three of the jars in a pasta bake for the Munchkins last night and it all got polished off with several coming back for seconds so I'll take that as a thumbs up for the sauce :~)
