So far this year I have canned almost 300 jars of food. Most of our canned goods are stored in the basement. I have this great old cupboard that I keep a lot of the jars in.
I do try to keep everything organized in order to find something without moving too much. I try to keep canned goods from the previous year on the top shelf. As you can see it's pretty much full.
So......
I have some tomatoes here.....and
some tomato puree on another shelf....I really think that I need to re-organize the basement shelves. It's a hot mess down there! I think that The Italian Santa is getting me a pressure canner for Christmas...so, I'm sure I will need a lot more space!
I did not do any canning or preserving this week. So, I thought that I would share a recipe. This is a great red sauce with sausage, wine & vinegar that we really enjoy. I'm not sure what region it is from in Italy. I think that "The Italian" was watching Lydia one day and she made something similar.
Red Sauce w/Sausage
Ingredients:
- Sausage removed from casing. You can use sweet or hot. This time I used two links of each of our homemade sausage.
- Red Wine (preferably free from your wine collecting neighbor)
- Olive Oil
- Tomato Puree or whole canned tomatoes pureed
- Vinegar
- Onion (optional)
- Pickled Hot Peppers
- Pasta of choice
Directions:
- Remove sausage from casing, put in a bowl, mush with fork and cover with red wine. Use plenty of wine.
- Let the sausage sit and absorb the wine for about 30 minutes. You may need to add a bit more wine if the sausage absorbs it quickly.
- Chop onions, if desried. I used about 1/4 of a medium onion in the sauce this time.
This is what the sausage looks like when you pour the wine over it. It will absorb the wine.
4. Put a a medium size saucepan on med/high heat, add about 1 tbsp. of olive oil, add sausage and wine mixture and saute meat until cooked.
5. Add Tomato Puree (I used 1 1/2 pints), onion if desired and about 1/4 Cup of vinegar to mixture and cook until thick. You may want to add a little more vinegar while cooking, depending upon the flavor. The vinegar and wine really make this sauce.
6. Cook pasta and serve topped with hot peppers.
The quantities I used made 2-3 servings, adjust quantities to accommodate portions required.
What's been going in or out of your cupboard lately?
I love that cabinet. Canning jars are just about the prettiest thing ever.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your pantry looks amazing! Good for you! Linking up on some gardening lessons learned. --S
ReplyDeleteWOW!! 300!?! great work. and dontcha just love Lydia? i've learned so much from her. happy thursday!
ReplyDelete:-)
Jane, I so love that cabinet too! I used to keep it in the kitchen and "The Italian" would arrange the jars so every shelf would be so beautiful! The kitchen is not the best place for the canned goods though. So it was moved to the basement.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shanon, great article you wrote...thanks for joining in!
OFG, We love Lydia....we call her Aunt Lydia around here!
I too love the cupboard. I really need to go through my canned goods.
ReplyDeleteYour recipe sounds great as well.
Wow 300!! That's a ton. About the only thing we can around here is tomatoes, the rest of the preserved veggies and fruit go in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cabinet! I used to keep my canned goods in an old cabinet in the kitchen when we were first married, and would find myself rearranging it every so often. I loved it, it was sort of like looking at a picture on one whole wall! Now I have a walk in pantry, and the cabinet holds old books in the living room. Anyway, wonderful recipe! I'll be trying it soon, maybe this weekend. Sounds like it's one I can make while doing something else! Maybe I could start it early in the day, and then put in the crock pot on low to eat later in the day??? Thanks for doing this weekly thing. I'll be thinking of what I make this next week.
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Thanks Becky, We really love it too!
ReplyDeleteStoney Acres, Thanks for joining in! I did get quite a bit canned and also frozen this year. We are in pretty good shape for the year.
Lori, It was so beautiful to look at when we had the cabinet in the kitchen. We are going to put some cabinets & shelves on the wall where I had the cabinet....maybe then I will arrange some preserved goods on there to look at.
I think it would be a great sauce to make in the crock pot! Let me know how it turns out and how you like it. Looking forward to you joining in next week!
Canned goods sure look good. My pantry selves are full but not just home canned goods. Lots of bought stuff so have I think 7 cases sitting on the floor in the boiler room waiting to be sorted and a better home but I don't know where. Your sauce sounds good. I am always looking for a new sauce recipe for something different.
ReplyDeleteWhen Santa delivers that gift you will need twice the cabinet space :o) you will be canning everything you can get your hands on :o) thanks for the recipe it has a few twists I think I might like for my sauce.. P.S. I still cant seem to get myself on your widgets
ReplyDeleteWilderness, That sounds like a good problem. Too much food! I hope that you enjoy the sauce!
ReplyDeleteGinny, I am going to be a canning fool when Santa brings me that canner! We started making this sauce last year and it's we really love it.
Do you want me to try to link you in for the first time?
Your cupboard is beautiful! 300 cans is alot of food. You'll be eating from your garden all winter long! The sausage recipe looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteokay i am going to have to write down that Thursdays i need to post something to be part of this linky party! All your canning looks lovely!!! Yahoo for canning..lol
ReplyDeleteNOTE: JODY IS HAVING TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH HIS POST. HE WILL COMMENT WHEN IT IS FIXED
ReplyDeleteI just love your cabinet. Your home preserved food looks so beautiful in it. What an accomplishment to have canned 300 jars. That's a jar a day for the rest of the year, almost. Wow. My recipe contribution to Cook It Thursday is Sicilian-style Chard. It would go great with your sausage pasta recipe, which I can hardly wait to try. Thanks for hosting this day.
ReplyDeleteWow! talk about being well stocked. How much of last year's is leftover? Do you use most in a year's time?
ReplyDeleteThat literally took my breath away! What a fantastic cupboard all stocked up, wow!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cabinet, your kitchen is a gourmet shop. Thanks for sharing the red sauce recipe, I'll have to try it someday.
ReplyDeleteJody, We definitely won't go hungry around here!
ReplyDeleteMrsP, Yahoo for sure! I'll be looking for you next week!
Your welcome Lou....and thanks for joining in! Your recipe is great!
Marcia, We usually just have jams and jellies left over and maybe some pickles. We give a lot of canned goods for Christmas presents to those who appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin, I just love my cupboard with all that goodness inside!
Mac, It's a great recipe. I'm sure that you will enjoy it.
I just dropped in from Lou Murray's blog...wow! I sooo have pantry envy! I really wish houses in California had basements :P Your pantry cupboards are truly awesome, and all the jars are just gorgeous! My wretched kitchen was clearly designed many years ago by someone that didn't cook, but my cunning plan when we redo the kitchen next spring is to have a pantry dedicated for storing our garden bounty, and this is fabulous inspiration! I dream of being this organized! BTW, your sausage sauce sounds divine!
ReplyDeleteYour cabinet is amazing. We have a small jelly cupboard in our Living room and this year it's full. I tried to organize, but inevitably when I need something out of the back, things get shuffled around.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a lot of canned goods. I can, but not nearly so much. I wanted to can pickled peppers for the first time this year, but that didn't happen. I want a pressure canner too. But I want one so I can can my beans. I have so many dried beans, but it takes a lot of planning to use them. I have to think ahead. I'd love the can my beans so I can just take a jar off the shelf when I need it.
ReplyDeleteThat pantry cupboard is a thing of beauty! Both the cupboard and the contents! :D
ReplyDeleteI still have pints of seasoned tomato sauce, a few pints of jam, and some odds end ends items from last year, but for the most part my canned goods pantry is current year stuff. Most of my preserving is freezing though.
Your shared recipe sounds and looks delicious. Definitely snagging that one to give it a whirl.
Love the cabinet! I don't know why, but looking at that, holding ALL those jars and not a sagging shelf--quality! Now think of those plastic shelves they're selling nowadays.....total junk.
ReplyDeleteYour display is so nice, I'd have to go down and just stare at it every day! Beautiful!!
You cupboard of preserves looks as though it was photographed in a very upmarket shop!
ReplyDeleteHey Curbstone thanks for stopping by! I have never lived without a basement....it would be strange for me. I would so love to have a canning pantry! That would be heaven!
ReplyDeleteEmily, I've been pretty good this year keeping my canning cupboard organized. In the past I could never find things and sometimes older jars would not get used before newer ones. It is hard to keep it that way if "The Italian" goes in there to get something!
Daphne, Maybe Santa will bring you a pressure canner! It would be so handy to have the dry beans ready to go!
Thanks Laura, I have quite a bit in the freezer too! I did try to organize the freezer a couple of weeks ago...but, I really need to make it easier to find things.
Sue, I did have to reinforce a couple of those shelves to keep them from sagging. As you can see from the other photos, the plastic shelves with canned goods are only 1 high. We really enjoyed looking at the canned goods when the cupboard was in the kitchen...it's defintely a thing of beauty!
Thanks Sue, That cupboard is in a messy and dusty basement! I really need to spend some time down there cleaning....that's a winter job!
Robin, that is one beautiful pantry!!! and the recipe is making me very hungry. ;) I thought we had totally wound down, but now back to digging out a few more raised beds to screen against moles.
ReplyDeleteJust made squash puree yesterday and soon will make some ravioli... come on over for dinner.
Thanks Diana, sometimes the work nver seems to end!
ReplyDeleteBoy "The Italian" and I would love to come over!
Woops - I forgot to post my link the other day. I love your cupboard of canned goods - it looks absolutely delicious. The recipe looks divine, sausage soaked in wine....with tomatoes....how could it be better?
ReplyDeleteHey Diana, I just realized that you linked in! Thanks for linking in!
ReplyDeleteLiz, Did you have one of those moments??? I did read your post. I agree, what could be better then something cooked with wine and tomatoes?? I put wine in a lot of my cooking.
Recipe looks delicious! And that cupboard for your canned goods is beautiful. I always thought canned goods in jars looked like little jewels. Keep up the good work, you are inspiring to me (when we get to that point, ha).
ReplyDeleteHey 1st Man, That's wonderful description of canned goods..little jewels. I think they are better then jewels! We'll have you doing the Can Can before you know it!
ReplyDeleteWill you please send your wine collecting neighbor my way? :)
ReplyDeleteThe amount of canned food you have is truly impressive. Well done!
wow, I mean really WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding! I only hope in the next few years to be able to can 300 jars of everything in our garden!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and inspirational.