Banana Legs ?
 

I have some Banana Legs tomatoes that need to be eaten, and some Penne Rigate needing some sauce.

I've grown tomatoes for 5 years now and have never made a sauce, but that's what I would like to do with these Banana Legs. I thought I would ask you all what you would do with them before/or instead of looking it up online.

Ingredients I have for adding to a sauce:

Onion powder
Onions fresh from the garden
Garlic powder
Garlic fresh from the garden
Sweet Basil - growing in garden
Oregano Leaves
Parsley flakes
Italian seasoning
Sage
Peppers - growing in garden
Mint - growing in garden

Peppers to choose from:

Thai Chili
Aji Amarillo
Big Jim Lumbre
Cherry Bomb
Sweet Red Cherry
Jalapeno
Shi-shi-to
Padron
Jimmy Nordello
Chervena Chuska

Curious about this, as I have a BL plant growing on my balcony..
All those spices and other ingredients sound like they'd make a delicious sauce.

I made a sauce with Banana Legs and one huge Mayo's Delight Heart. Cooked it slow a steady for 90 minutes. I cooked it with vegetable oil (Cannot afford olive oil). onions, several chopped peppers, garlic, sweet basil, oregano, garlic and onion powders, sea salt.

It tastes good. The seasoning is right, but what was missing was the acidic tomato flavor. I guess we have eaten too many American pizzas and canned tomato sauces in our lifetime? I think what we grew up with is now the standard for us. Our first ever made tomato sauce will feed the compost pile in style. It won't go to waste.

But that means...I'll have to grow so many other tomatoes to try in sauces...:rant: Oh the horrors :frank:

Sounds like an excuse to grow EVEN MORE tomatoes to me :)

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;482771]I made a sauce with Banana Legs and one huge Mayo's Delight Heart. Cooked it slow a steady for 90 minutes. I cooked it with vegetable oil (Cannot afford olive oil). onions, several chopped peppers, garlic, sweet basil, oregano, garlic and onion powders, sea salt.

It tastes good. The seasoning is right, but what was missing was the acidic tomato flavor. I guess we have eaten too many American pizzas and canned tomato sauces in our lifetime? I think what we grew up with is now the standard for us. Our first ever made tomato sauce will feed the compost pile in style. It won't go to waste.

But that means...I'll have to grow so many other tomatoes to try in sauces...:rant: Oh the horrors :frank:

Sounds like an excuse to grow EVEN MORE tomatoes to me :)[/QUOTE]


I too favor the acidic flavor. This is the reason I planted Sioux this year. It is supposed to have a real acidic taste. One of my Sioux plants(of three) is heavily ribbed kind of like a Zapotec. Must have been a mix up or cross from the vendor. The other 2 are smooth but on the small side. However I planted them kind of late. Time will tell.

You can always add some lemon juice to the sauce to make it more "acidic"...in fact you'll find it will "brighten up" the sauce.

You can also experiment with slow roasting the tomatoes and peppers before cooking them into a sauce. I've also added slices of onions to the roasting process. You can chop /slice all the maters, peppers and onions and put them in a large bowl, add oil, seasonings and then spread them out on a large cookie sheet and slow /low roast them before cooking them further in a pot for sauce. At that point I've added a few "fresh" maters that have been pureed to the sauce to add more liquid volume, as I find it doesn't dilute it down like when you add just water. Then you can simmer down your sauce the consistency that you want.

Go easy on the seasonings in the sauce, if you're planning on canning it. That way you have a "base sauce" that you can add any seasoning to later.

I add red wine or even red wine vinegar for acidity as needed.

Yes, learning to make the basic sauce is where I'm at. I had full intensions of adding lemon juice. The lemons looked great through the crisper drawer...but we bought them back in April...more compost food.

Citric acid.
Worth

I was going to paste a link to a site that had a very easy sauce I used last year, but of course I can't find it. But I'm going to put down what I do. This allows you to use pretty much any of your tomatoes for sauce and it's easy as there's no peeling or seeding.

I line the largest lipped tray I have w/ aluminum foil. Spray foil w/ non-stick spray.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Halve, quarter (or more) depending on the size of your tomatoes, putting them on the tray skin side down and cut side up. Fill the tray up.

Cut up a onion or two, making wedges out of it (remove top and bottom of onion, plus skin.

Cut up and slice into strips a bell pepper (or use something hotter if desired). do remove stem and seeds.

Use several cloves garlic, w/ skin removed and roughly chunked.

Place onions, peppers and garlic on tray (sometimes I fry them up seperately on the stovetop).

Sprinkle the tomatoes + w/ salt, basil, black pepper, and any other herbs you prefer (I like adding oregano and rosemary).

Drizzle oil over tray.

Place in oven for 1 hour (watch that tomatoes don't get too blackened) [you can also cook this longer at a lower temp (350) but you stilll might want to finish at 400 to caramelize.

Remove tray from oven. Scoop contents into blender (or food processor).
I blend until fairly smooth.

You basically have your sauce. I'd put it in a dutch oven at this point on the stovetop and add any herbs or lemon juice or sugar to bring it to the taste I want.

I even canned this sauce last year (adding lemon juice) and had homemade sauce for about 5 months.

Chris

The proverb is "If you first don't succeed, try try again."

Did all the same things today and used Bradley, Golden Jubilee, Valencia, and Sioux tomatoes instead of Banana Legs. I used a lemon and lemon zest - it turned out really nice.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;483020]The proverb is "If you first don't succeed, try try again."

Did all the same things today and used Bradley, Golden Jubilee, Valencia, and Sioux tomatoes instead of Banana Legs. I used a lemon and lemon zest - it turned out really nice.[/QUOTE]

Good to hear Salt! Bet it was delicious!:)