This zesty sauce is great with shrimp and other seafood, but I'm thinking there may be more uses for this yummy concoction that begins with tomatoes...

Here's what I did...

First I prepared my tomatoes... the recipe called for 13 cups of plum tomato puree

I didn't have plum tomatoes, I had globe tomatoes, so I cored and quartered about 10 pounds of tomatoes and put them in a colander, allowing them to drain for a half hour before I placed them in my large stainless steel saucepan and brought them to a boil over medium heat, then turning the heat down and simmering for 15 minutes or so, until the tomatoes were heated through and softened.



I then put the tomatoes through my food mill to puree them...

I measured out 13 cups of tomato puree, then poured half into a clean saucepan and brought it to a boil over high heat, then added the remainder of puree a cup at a time, maintaining a constant boil... I lowered the heat and gently boiled the puree, stirring occasionally, until it was reduced by half. (took about 30 minutes, give or take)

While all this reducing was going on, I grated horseradish...

This is a piece of horseradish root

I began by peeling the horseradish root with my vegetable peeler... you're supposed to also be able to scrape off the outer brown peel using the edge of a spoon... neither worked well for me, so I got out my trusty paring knife and peeled it with the knife.

On to the grating part... tried to use an old fashioned box grater... took too long... so I got out my KitchenAid mixer grater attachment and tried that route... worked a little better, but the horseradish root was still resisting me and was a little too squishy for the KitchenAid... so... I got out my blender and put the still ungrated (the in-grate!) horseradish in the blender, gave it a whirl and Tah-Dah!!!! perfectly grated horseradish!


By the time THAT ordeal was over, my eyes and nose were pouring... horseradish is smelly and brutal to the mucous membranes (in large quantities!)... so I took a break, wiped my eyes, blew my nose, washed my hands and got back to work...

I set the grated horseradish aside and went back to my now reduced tomato puree...

To the puree, I added...

The zest and juice of two lemons


And then my camera battery died so I put the batteries in the charger and completed my sauce without the aid of photography (sad face)

I also added to the puree...

3 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp. canning salt
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

I increased the heat and brought the entire mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring frequently.

I then removed it from the heat and immediately added...

3 cups of finely grated horseradish

I ladled the hot sauce into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving a half inch headspace. I removed any air bubbles and adjusted the headspace by adding more sauce if needed. I wiped the jar rim with a damp cloth and tightened my hot lids on to fingertip tightness.

I processed the jars in a boiling water bath, ensuring they were completely covered with water, bringing the water to a boil and processing for 15 minutes. After processing, I removed the jars from the canner and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.

Next morning, when my camera batteries had recharged... I took a photo of the finished product... Seafood Cocktail Sauce!



For a printable copy of this recipe, click here.