The tomato glut that you get through August and September can’t be dealt with just by eating. On average from our plants we get around 40kg of tomatoes (more if its a good year). There’s a balance to be made between cherry tomatoes which can be eaten with salads and larger tomatoes which are good for cooking.
We freeze many, simply chopping them up and freezing in 400g boxes which is equivalent to a can of tomatoes so easy to cook with. We also freeze cherry tomatoes whole for those recipes that use them. However, our favourite thing is this tomato sauce. Again we freeze it in 350g – 400g batches which is enough to go with pasta and makes a quick and simple meal.
The basic recipe is as follows and it can be multiplied up easily to make a good batch.
Ingredients
- 1kg tomatoes
- 1 Large Onion
- 200ml Red Wine
- Tablespoon Oregano
- Teaspoon Sugar
- Tablespoon Tomato Puree
- Oil for cooking
The colour of the sauce will depend upon your tomatoes. We find green tomatoes don’t do well and yellow/orange tomatoes benefit from adding more tomato puree. However, black/brown tomatoes make a really rich coloured sace.
Method
Skin the tomatoes by pricking each one with a knife, cutting around the tomato and putting into boiling water for 20 seconds or so. Chop them up roughly.
Chop the onion into small pieces (we use the blender) and sweat the onion in the oil until its soft. Try not to let it brown as this will affect the flavour of the resulting sauce.
Add all the other ingredients and simmer it gently for 40 minutes or so until its thickened and reduced. (Exactly how long this will take depends upon how ripe your tomatoes are and what type you’re using – beefsteak tomatoes will not take as long because they have a greater ratio of flesh to juice).
Season to taste.
So, there you are a tasty sauce with many uses – spread it on pizza or use it for any recipe that wants a rich sauce. We fry a few meatballs, mix in the sauce and serve with pasta – ready in 10 minutes.
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