There is nothing I love more than a box full of seasonal fruit or vegetables at the height of summer. Abundance, beauty, nutrition all rolled into one!
Our local store recently had 12kg boxes of tomatoes and I couldn’t resist. Why would I?
Not only do I love the promise of being able to preserve the flavours of the season, I love the challenge of considering how far I can make the produce stretch, thinking about the various ways I can preserve the produce and creating something that can store easily in my pantry and be utilised well past the end of the season. It brings me joy…
Preserving summer’s goodness offers hope for the cold weather, saves us buying canned goods and can help the household budget – one vegetable or fruit at a time!
Making tomato passata can be an all-day affair and in many rural communities around the world people come together to spend all day making passata and celebrating the season, but a single box of tomatoes probably doesn’t warrant an all-day event.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m more of a ‘small-batch’ cook. I prefer to make small batches often, rather than save them all up for one big day-out. That approach works better with the way my day rolls out most days as there is always something else to do, other than cook and cooking and preserving gets squeezed into the little gaps of time I have.
I also prefer recipes which are easy, throw it all in together and out comes a product, kind of easy!
Here’s my basic passata recipe. You can use it as a base for lasagne, pasta sauces, curries, Mexican beef or anything else to which you might traditionally add canned tomatoes.
Thermomix Method for Easy Passata
1.5kg tomatoes, cut into halves
1 large onion, cut into two
4 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup good quality olive oil
1 tsp salt to taste
½ tsp pepper to taste
Add all the ingredients to your Thermomix jug, and cook for 25 minutes/90°C/Speed 2.
Place the passata into sterilised jars and secure the lids. Turn them upside down on the bench for at least 10 minutes to seal them.
When cool, label them with the contents and date made.
Store in a cool, dark place until needed.
Enjoy!
Note: If making on a stove top, crush the garlic and finely chop the onions before adding all ingredients to a heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes or until all the tomatoes have broken down.
If cooking over a slower wood-fired stove, you may need to cook a little longer until the tomatoes have collapsed and are satisfactorily cooked through.
If you like your passata chunky, transfer it to jars as above. If you prefer it a little smoother, use a stick blender to break it down a bit before transferring it while still hot into sterilised jars for storage.
