Green Giant tomato sauce??

[gssgarden]

My daughter and I are going to have some fun this year. We always make are sauce with the usual mix of garden tomatoes and we always make a pot of just Shannon's tomatoes. Shannon's is the only paste I grow and absolutely love the flavor.

This year were going to make sauce from Orange only (KBX and Chef's Choice Orange mostly), which I have done with Sungold a while back, AND Green only tomatoes.

My Green Giant was wonderful again and got around 25 nice sized tomatoes off of her. We blanched and skinned them, and froze them. The flavor of this tomato is so intense for me and the family loves it as well.

Now, along with the regular 'goods' I put in sauce, herbs, spices, ect, I also put some paste in to help thicken it up. We had a wet spring and my heirlooms were LOADED with juice! Great to eat fresh, but my sauce has been watery and I am NOT complaining about that!! lol

I'd like to keep that bright green color but I think the paste will turn it to a brown or mud-ish color.

Should I skip the paste and just boil it down and possibly have watery sauce? Or do you think the paste will NOT have that much of a color effect?

Just looking for some thought if anyone has tried it before.

Thanks in advance!

Greg

[Worth1]

Red and green make yellow.
If you want your sauce to stay a nice bright green use fruit fresh and cook down.

[gssgarden]

Never used Fruit Fresh before. I'll look into it. Thanks!

Greg

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by gssgarden

Never used Fruit Fresh before. I'll look into it. Thanks!

Greg

All it is is ascorbic acid vitamin C get it in your canning section at the store.
A thousand uses, stops oxidation.

[Worth1]

Got cut up potatoes or apple that turned brown oxidized on you, just put in water and add fruit fresh.
Immediate action back to white.
No good restaurant would be without it.

Worth

[oakley]

Red and green makes brown.

[Worth1]

Maybe with tomatoes but with paint and pigments it makes yellow.

Well I just tried it and it came out a pukey purple brown color.
NOT something you would want in a sauce.

[oakley]

No, not with paint and pigment either...brown

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by oakley

No, not with paint and pigment either...brown

Look at my post above yours.

[oakley]

Ah, gotcha...with tomatoes it will be brown also.

[oakley]

You could try a low and slow roasted in the oven. In a roasting pan or lasagna pan
covered. 275-300 with some nice white onion slices, garlic. If they roast too high heat they
caramelize and become a more chartreuse color sauce.
Might be better than simmering stove-top.
Maybe a blender slurry similar to a pesto using fresh bright greens...basil, parsley,
celery and the leaves...even an un-roasted green tom and mix all that in just before
serving. Should brighten the color quite a bit.

A chef secret to bright green sauces is to add a couple romaine style lettuce leaves.
Adds color without changing flavor. With lemon in a big powered blender.

*additive and subtractive color theory have opposite starting points, white and black.
Primary and secondary beginnings.

blue+yellow makes green. Blue+yellow+red makes brown.

[gssgarden]

That's a thought too. thanks

Just trying to thicken it up without changing the color.

Greg

[oakley]

Low heat and slow will keep your color. It will cut the moisture by half or more like
oven drying/dehydrating. Onion, leeks, basil, green onion and the tops, any green leaf
that you like and grow will brighten at the finish...chives.

This chef type person has some good ideas and very bright/colorful recipes.
(I bookmarked her blog for harvest ideas)

"...Any greens will do. I've used sweet potato greens, kale and spinach. But collards or any combination of would work too. In place of the broth, you could use the blanching liquid..."
http://withfoodandlove.com/roasted-green-tomato-soup/

(don't care for collard broth myself)....

Most recipes I see are using 'green' unripe toms. Amazes me that so many people do
not know about GWR.

I've made GWR tomato soup but like it a bit more broth-y. Basil oil and chipotle
horseradish cream. (a pink color). Garlic cream sounds good....

[drew51]

What adding paste to your own tomatoes? I would never do that no matter what color! It's a changing world I guess? Yeah do it right boil it down. If one does not have time to do it on the stove a slow cooker works all by itself.

[Father'sDaughter]

If they are frozen, take them out of the freezer, put them in a colander in the sink and leave them to thaw and drain. This will start you off with a less watery base which will require less cooking down. (Hint -- the skins will literally slide off of tomatoes as they thaw, so no need to blanch and peel before freezing.)

The other option is purée them raw, put the purée in a tall container (I use a round Cambro but a pitcher will work). Then leave the container in the fridge for about 24 hours and the liquid will separate out. You can carefully scoop the thicker purée off the top then cook it, or if you have any plastic tubing (the tubing used in beer/wine making works) the watery liquid can be siphoned out from under the purée. This is a trick I picked up here from Brokenbar (Mary).