Roasted Tomato Basil Soup for Canning

If you've been following me on Instagram (and please do, because I update that FAR more frequently than this old blog), you know that I have been can jamming like it's my part time J.O.B. My husband has been blessed to have a summer job at our local CSA, and one of those perks is getting to bring home a ton of vegetables. I've wanted to make the most of all of the amazing bounty, so I've been trying to preserve and can things at least every other day so nothing goes to waste. What he brings home, plus our own garden has given us an incredible amount of food, which will be incredible to have on hand for the rest of the year. Between canning, dehydrating, and freezing, we've been quite busy stocking up our pantry. (and I just took a count - so far, I've canned about 200 pints of things)

Although we've gotten some tomatoes from his job, and we have a few plants in our garden, I knew I needed more to be able to preserve all the tomato based things I had on my wish list (more spicy Bloody Mary Mix, salsa, tomato vodka sauce, and then some plain tomato things). While driving through the country side yesterday, I found a little Amish place selling 25 pounds of tomatoes for $6 a box. So I did what any good canner does and picked up 4 boxes. Yeah, I'm aware that's 100 pounds of tomatoes...

We added a pressure canner this year, and I couldn't be more happy. Although it's still a little scary to use, it's no different than a pressure canner. And as long as you follow the directions, you should be good to go.

This recipe is pressure canned, although I don't see why you couldn't freeze this if you wanted to. There is probably a way to water bath can it too, but if you aren't a canning expert, I probably wouldn't try monkeying around with it as apparently, botulism is no joke.

This recipe is from the new Big Ball Book of Canning, although I tripled the recipe and then added some spices to it, so here is my version. This yielded 14 quarts, and you could easily do this in pints if you liked a smaller serving size.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

24 pounds tomatoes, quartered, cored, and seeded

12 cloves garlic

3 tbsp. olive oil

6 cups minced onion

3 cups dry white wine

12 cups vegetable or chicken stock

3 tbsp salt, or to taste

2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 (18 oz) can tomato paste (optional - I used it because my soup was a little thin)

3 cups packed basil leaves, minced

Preheat oven to 375. Quarter, core, and seed tomatoes, and place cut side up on large rimmed baking sheets. Add cloves of garlic and tuck down in between tomatoes. Place in oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until garlic and tomatoes are nice and soft.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large stock pot. Add onion and saute, 8-10 minutes, until soft and tender. Add wine, and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, stock, seasonings, and tomato paste, if using. Bring to a boil and cook 20 minutes, or until heated through. Using a stick blender (or do in batches in a traditional blender), process soup until nice and smooth. Return to pot and add basil. Stir well.

Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving a 1" headspace. Remove any air bubbles. Wipe jar rim and apply lids, fingertip tight. Place jar on rack in pressure canner, containing recommended amount of simmering water. Place lid on canner and turn to locked position. Adjust heat to medium high. Vent steam for 10 minutes. Place the counter weight on vent; bring pressure to 10 pounds. Process pint jars for 50 minutes and 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.