passata di pomodoro - a recipe

Late summer is a busy time in the kitchen, with all the excess garden produce that needs to be dealt with.  I seem to be making, cooking, bottling... every day!  But it is worth the effort when I pull something yummy from the freezer or pantry later.

Today's kitchen adventure began with a box of gifted tomatoes from a friend of mums.  They arrived on her doorstep while she was away for a couple of days so I decided to process them all and have them ready on her return. 

Something easy to do with little hands on time is a basic tomato pasta sauce or passata di pomodoro.  All up about 30min processing time and then stirring every so often.  I freeze this sauce in meal lots and can do heaps of variations with it later.  It can become a base for lasagne, shepherds pie, tomato soup, spaghetti bolognaise, pizza sauce or anywhere you would otherwise use tinned tomatoes or tinned pasta sauce.

Wash tomatoes in sink.  Cut out green stem and any bad bits.

 Pulse in food processor until...

 ...it looks like this.  Pulse a couple of onions and maybe some garlic too.

Throw all into large pots and simmer on very low, for a couple of hours, until liquid is reduced.  Add seasonings according to your end use, italian herbs, salt, pepper...
Cool overnight in fridge. 

Pack into freezer containers in meal sized lots.  I packed mine into snap lock sandwich bags and fit about 700g in each.

Label well with food name and date made.  (This is the step I always miss and then have heaps of mystery packs months later!!)

Enjoy homegrown tomatoes in your winter meals.

Do you have excess tomatoes to preserve?  What do you do with them?


Linking to Thirty Handmade Days and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways. and Butter Believer and Fat Tuesday
Check out the great ideas to be found there too.