Tomato sauce

Sat, 13 September, 2014

⯆ JUMP TO RECIPE

Preparing tomatoes

Score each fruit crosswise and put in a bowl with boiling water to cover them all well. Drain them after a couple of minutes and the skins will peel easily. Deseed them. The smaller ones can be just squeezed, the large ones cut in half – and squeezed.

Tomato sauce

Servings: makes about a pint of sauceTime: 2 hours

Tags: vegetables, sauces, summer, autumn, easy

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 pounds fresh tomatoes, skinned as above and chopped
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 heaped tsp tomato puree (unless your tomatoes are SO ripe they shout ‘no puree!’ to you)
salt and black pepper
a handful of basil leaves, chopped finely

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic, only to warm it up; don't let it colour.

2. Add the chopped tomatoes (or the contents of a tin), honey, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and season generously with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer so that it bubbles vigorously and cook over medium heat for 2 hours. The end product should be thick, unctuous stuff.

3. If the tomatoes haven’t broken down completely and you want a smooth rather than chunky sauce, mash them up with a potato ricer while they cook. Stir in the basil leaves after the sauce is off the heat.