Our tomato harvest has been less than normal this year, as we only planted four plants, but we are still not keeping up with the supply. So as per previous years I have been hunting for ways to use them and this time, I decided to make tomato sauce.
I found a recipe for a simple tomato sauce on the internet and adapted it, as always, to what I had in stock. I used most of our home grown tomatoes, reserving a small dishful for use in salads and sandwiches. The original recipe was for 500g of tomatoes but I had three times that when I weighed the ones that were ready for using so I scaled it up. You can see the recipe here.
1½ kilos of tomatoes made a full litre of the most delicious garlicky sauce, perfect for pasta or for adding to pies, stews and soups. After using some straight away I divided the rest into 300g portions using ziplock bags for the freezer. If you flatten the sealed bags before freezing they take up less space in the freezer.
Ingredients
500g / 1500g ripe home grown tomatoes
2tblsp / 6tblsp extra virgin olive oil
4 / 12 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
a good handful of fresh basil or 3 tsp dried basil
Salt to taste
Method
Roughly chop the tomatoes, removing any scarred or damaged bits. No need to peel.
Heat half of the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add half of the tomatoes, turn the heat down to low and add the garlic.
Add the remaining tomatoes and cook gently until they begin to break down, stirring regularly.
Add the remaining olive oil and salt to taste and cook on a low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly.
5 minutes before the end of cooking add the torn basil leaves and/or dried basil.
When cool transfer to a food processor and process until as smooth as you want it, or use a stick blender in the pan (be aware it may splatter and tomato stains can be very stubborn).
Makes 33cl / 1 litre of sauce which will keep for a week in the fridge. Freezes well.
You might be interested in other ways I have used tomatoes:
roast salmon with courgettes and tomatoes
smoked salmon and halloumi stuffed courgettes
roasted cod with potatoes and tomatoes
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