60 roma or san marzano tomatoes
1 large cooking onion
6 to 8  cloves of garlic crushed, peeled and diced depending on the size of the cloves
2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 TBLSP fennel seeds

1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
If you would like your sauce to be a bit sweet, add 2 TBLSP. sugar at the basil, vinegar, stage. HOWEVER, if you allow your tomatoes to ripen properly, they will be full of sugar. They should be very ripe. If you can get them from a market, all the better. I buy mine from 19th Ave. Market at Woodbine Ave. The man who owns the farm is great at explaining how tomatoes should be used and when. worth the drive, if you live in a different part of the GTA. If you live in another part of the country, try to find a place that grows tomatoes. They are a different breed from what you will buy at a grocery store.

I use 500 ML jars
The jars can be sterilized either in the dishwasher or in a sink of Hot water. Be sure to rinse the jars well if you have used soap.  Once they are washed, turn them upside down on a clean towel  while you are getting the tomatoes ready.

To prepare your tomatoes you will need a large pot which you will fill with water and then you will boil it. You should also keep a full kettle of boiled water close by.

The skin needs to be removed from the tomatoes and then the seeds need to be removed. It sounds scary but just jump in.
The skin will not come off nicely unless the water is actually boiling when you pour it over the tomatoes or when you submerge the tomatoes into the water. But if the water is boiling hot, the skin will come off easily.  Before you put water and tomatoes together, cut a small X in the bottom of the tomatoes.
Bring your pot of water to a boil
turn the burner off
put as many tomatoes as you can into the water bearing in mind that they need to be fully covered by the water.
Leave the tomatoes in the water for five minutes
keep a bowl of cold water close
with tongs (I just stick a paring knife into the tomato and pull it out that way) remove a tomato and plunge it into the cold water. This step is just so that it cools slightly so you can handle it. pull the skin off and place the tomato in a separate bowl.
As soon as all of the tomatoes have been removed from the pot, turn the burner on again and bring the water to a boil. You can also use the boiling water in the kettle to pour over a different bowl full of tomatoes
Continue this process until you tomatoes are all peeled.
NOW THE MESSY PART

place a large colander over yet another bowl and begin to remove the seed part. Cut the tomatoes in half and with your fingers, remove seed and juice. Put this into the colander. When you are finished with your seeding you will find the bowl beneath the pulp and seeds, is full of juice.
I made my sauce and my
Roasted Tomatoes at the same time. If you choose to do both
you may put the juice in a separate pot which you will use for your sauce. My sauce ends up with some of the seeds in it. If you do not want any seeds at all, you need to put the sauce through a cheesecloth or a very fine strainer. Another way to avoid seeds is to leave out the extra juice collected during the peeling and seeding process. I just cannot bear to waste the juice.

Place tomatoes in your large pot as you prepare them.
Once all tomatoes are prepared, turn burner on
Add onions and spices and apple cider vinegar
on medium heat bring to a boil
reduce heat to a simmer and
Cook until tomatoes are broken down and everything is cooked together.

I use a hand held emulsifier to break tomatoes down and blend mixture just a bit more. I don’t pure it but you may do that. You can also use a blender but I have not used that method. You may need to cool the mixture before putting in the blender and then you will need to reheat the mixture again before putting it in the jars. A hand held blender/emulsifier is not terribly expensive and is so handy to have as a kitchen tool. If you would like the mixture to be thicker, continue cooking on medium low, stirring occasionally, until it reduces to the desired consistency.

Put clean jars on a clean pan and add two or three basil leaves to each jar.

The next step needs to be done quickly so that your tomatoes do not cool.
Fill the jars to 1/2 inch below the top of the jar. Do two or three jars at a time.
**VERY CAREFULLY wipe the top edge of the jars so that there is not even one little piece of tomato on top. If there is anything on the top of the jar, it will not seal.
Place your lid on top
place and turn ring on top. Tighten but not firmly. Just a nice gentle tighten.
set aside
when your jars are full, place them in a Canner, but if you don’t have a Canner, the cake pan method in the oven will work well.

Canner method:
Heat water in canner, to boiling. When it is boiling fill it with your jars. Bring it back to a boil and then reduce heat slightly. Keep it boiling and boil jars for 20 minutes. Remove the jars and set them on a clean tea towel. Don’t touch! Just leave them and listen to the popping that happens when the jars seal.

Cake Pan method:
Put water in the cake pan to half fill it once the jars are in the pan.
Place pan full of tomato jars into the oven that you have not turned off. Increase temperature to 400 when the temp reaches 400 and without opening the oven door, reduce heat again to 300 and leave the jars in the oven for one hour.
You may hear the lids popping while they are in the oven but if you don’t, they will pop once they have been removed from the oven.
DO NOT TOUCH the LIDS until they have sealed. I used to get into SO MUCH trouble if I touched those lids before they popped.
Once they have cooled check the lids. The variance is very slight but you can tell when the jar has sealed. The lid is concave.
If you have a jar that does not seal, remove the tomatoes and bring them to a boil again in a small pan. Put them back into the jar and tighten the lid.
Alternatively, if you only have one or two jars that don’t seal, just tighten them and put them in the fridge. Eat them within a couple of weeks.
**you can tell that it has not sealed because if you remove the ring, the lid will come off easily. If there is resistance don’t pull. The jar is sealed.