Too many tomatoes?

Every October I am plagued with a Catholic-like guilt regarding my Roma tomatoes. "OMG - they're all ripe at the same time, hordes of them just dripping off the plant like an overloaded Christmas Tree. What to do!?"

It's amazing what only two plants can produce - and I say to myself: "'cause ya know, you only planted two plants cause they're only good for sauce - and what if you only planted one and it didn't make it? Then you'd have to go  a year without sauce!!"

So, ... the ripening time always comes at the same time as the grape harvest - leaving my husband and I little time to spend in a steamy spotless kitchen with soup pots and glass jars taking over all available counter space.

One year, when I was just pretending that the tomatoes weren't there, I just couldn't handle the guilt - they were so perfect that year! They were all evenly red and ripe and pretty - just begging to move on to the next level of being - alongside some Angel Hair and Italian Basil, coated in extra virgin olive oil.

Anyway, I ignored them. So much so that they even grew noses to try and get my attention.

One day, the husband just couldn't take it anymore, so in between pressloads of grapes, he picks as many Roma tomatoes as he can fit our largest stock pot - all the way to the top baby! No roasting, cutting, seeding, peeling - only a quick stem removal before joining half a bottle of red wine for a very long jacuzzi session. Hours later, we have tomato sauce - reduced and cooled overnight.

Well, in his haste, we didn't discuss canning so without any jars, we just packaged the cooled sauce into gallon-size ziplocs and filled the freezer. ... and put the extra bags in 2 other freezers elsewhere. Hmm.... we're still working on those bags .... chipping away literally.

The next year, I saw a post from a friend about an offer to help with excess tomatoes by turning them into a stellar bloody mary mix and canning it. Well, why the hell not? Brilliant! No wasted tomatoes - just wasted consumers after enough vodka is added. The tomatoes yielded 14 pints of excellent juice with horseradish and spices.

And now? This year I've contracted the same friend to turn this year's bounty into jars of Marinara - something I will enjoy having readily available in the cupboard instead of the freezer. A three day process  - so worth the investment in saving my little darling Romas and making them proud.

Salute!