Auntie Pat’s roasted tomato passata

Auntie Pat is a golden source of great recipes. She donated this one to us last year (originally sourced from Sainsbury’s magazine Sep 2004) as we were complaining about not knowing what to do with a glut of tomatoes when they all ripen at once. We make this recipe in bulk. Our first batch this year started off with over 10 kilos of tomatoes.   After a bit of chopping out stalky bits and bad bits of tomato (lots of rain damage to fruit plants in Italy this year) we managed to get it down to 8 kilos.  The recipe below makes about 1 litre for every 2kg of tomatoes. This is a fantastic base to many other Italian dishes and a great staple for the fridge/freezer. You will not regret the effort to make it; it is delicious. Thank you Auntie Pat.

Foodstuff you will need: 

2kg large ripe tomatoes (I used a mix of plum, beef and ordinary round ones; anything goes!)

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme leaves (these grow in our garden too) – alternatives are oregano or majoram

2 teaspoons of brown sugar

Generous splash of good quality thick balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and ground pepper

Equipment:

Sharp knife and chopping board

Large bowl and boiling water

2 large baking trays - oiled to fit tomatoes snugly when halved

Food processor

Oven

How to throw it together

Heat the oven to 190C.

Put all tomatoes into a large bowl and pour over boiling water to cover the tomatoes

Leave for 1-2minutes; the skin should now peel off easily.

Drain and peel.

Scatter onion, garlic and herbs over the base of each baking tray

Halve or quarter the tomatoes (if very large) and place them cut side up over the onions to cover them. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle over the sugar, then drizzle over the balsamic and olive oil (1/2 the quantities above in each tin)

Roast for 60-95 minutes, swapping tins around if required until the tomatoes are shrunk and brown at the edges but not charred.

Allow to cool, before puree in a food processor

Adjust seasoning according to taste.

Optional: add de seeded red peppers – discarding their skins after roasting before you puree the mixture

Store in sterilized jars in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

You can also freeze this in plastic containers for anything up to 12 months.

(Defrost it in a saucepan as you warm it up from frozen before adding to other ingredients)