Tomatoes are a big love. I eat them daily. Fresh in the summer or cooked during winter. I love tomato soup and tomato-based sauces. When I have time I let a sauce simmer for 45' or more. When I don't have time I make a more tomato-y sauce. Mainly for fast pasta dishes. For instance, I like a more chunky, less cooked sauce, for my penne. The less you cook your sauce the more you keep the tomato flavour. Depends on how you like it or the sort of sauce that goes best with different meals.
For the first time this year, I decided to cook some sauce and store it in jars. Just to have it ready when I need it. I've seen many people doing it, but I thought it was a hassle to make. I was wrong. It's one of the easiest things to prepare, considering the time you save when you come home late for dinner and there's a real sauce waiting for you. I know, right? That makes me feel so accomplished lol.
No additives, no refined sugars, no sunflower oil.
I prefer not to add spices, only salt. This way I can use it as a base for all kinds of different recipes. But you can add spices and different veggies, you can add garlic or onions, carrots, whatever you prefer, or whatever you know you eat more often.
There's only one prerequisite: you need to use good, real tomatoes. You need summer tomatoes. And remember you need a lot of them.
INGREDIENTS
5kg tomatoes
5 tbs salt
1/2 lemon juice
2 tbs sugar (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Cut the tomato stems and put them in boiling water for a minute to make it easier for the skin to come off.
Remove the skin and pulse them in a blender or food processor. The chunkier you want your sauce the less you need to pulse.
Cook the sauce in a pan with a thick base for an hour or more, depending on how much liquid or dry you want it. Medium fire and don't forget to stir.
When the sauce is ready, add the lemon juice and salt.
Jars: you can boil the jars in a pan with water for 10' (lids separate) or you can put them in the oven at 120°C for a few minutes. Then add the hot sauce to the hot jars, turn them upside down and let them cool. You can keep those jars for almost a year. If you open a jar but you don't want to use all the sauce at once, put it in the refrigerator for later. Just remember to add some fresh olive oil on top. This layer of olive oil helps with maintaining the sauce for a longer period of time.
If you want to freeze the sauce just fill up freezer bags or containers with the hot sauce and off they go in the freezer. They can last up to 3 months.
Done already? See how easy it is? Think of all those winter evenings you'll be indulging in yum homemade tomato sauce.
Let me know if you have more recipes like this? I love making my life easier. I love real food recipes.
xoxo
Sofia