Worth the trouble

So. Since I've come back to town from my grandmother's funeral trip, I've been battling the tomatoes. Joe vs. the Volcano? No. It's me vs. the tomatoes. Since before the trip there has been a spread of to-be-dealt-with tomatoes taking up half of our kitchen table. Going away for four days made it worse.

Don't get me wrong -- I love tomatoes. But there comes a time in the late-summer harvest season when one realizes that it would be ok if one did not see another tomato, ripening on the vine, for some time. Like till next year. I have reached that point.

However. I am not one to quit. I carry on. And Friday, I swung the battle back toward my camp. At least for now. I made sauce. I made minestrone. And I made this -- it's the greatest of the victories:

Roasted Roma Tomatoes
From the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
Yield: about 4 quarts -- for me it did 3 plus a 2-cup freezer container

12 pounds Roma tomatoes
4 bulbs garlic
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano (or 1 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
Bottled lemon juice

Roast tomatoes on grill or in broiler until skins begin to wrinkle and become lightly blackened in spots, turning to roast evenly on all sides. Remove from heat. Place roasted tomatoes in a paper bag and close tightly (I didn't do this. I just left them on the cookie sheets I'd roasted them on, set on the stovetop, while I went to do the school pickup). Cool tomatoes until they're easy to handle, about 15 minutes. Slip skins off tomatoes, cut in half and remove seeds (this I did only half-heartedly; I hope that won't mess up any canning juju -- read: create botulism). Cut into 1/2-inch chunks, set aside. Place garlic on aluminum foil and drizzle olive oil over garlic. Wrap foil around garlic, sealing edges tightly. Roast garlic at 350 F until tender, about 30 minutes. Cool garlic until it is easy to handle. Separate cloves of garlic and remove papery skins (messy, but my hands didn't smell like garlic in the morning so it's all good). Add garlic to tomatoes. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat until hot throughout. Here's a little added step I usually do -- I pureed it all with an immersion blender before canning. My kiddos won't eat something they perceive to be an actual tomato unless it no longer resembles a solid. Not sure why it's like this, but I was the same way when I was a kid. Add 2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice to each quart jar. Ladle hot tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process quarts 1 hour and 25 minutes in a boiling-water canner.