Normally I make the tomato sauce around the end of August or the beginning of September. But this year the guy at the veggies shop told me that I'm already late for making it, as the summer began earlier and it's hotter than last year.
So, I paid for the tomatoes a little bit higher than last year. It was about 8 euro for 10 kg instead of 6 euro.
If you ask me whether it's worth to make it myself, I can say this: talking about the cost, of course the one we made is more expensive than buying. But talking about how delicious and healthful, it’s absolutely worth!!!!
I made 3 kinds of tomato sauce:
- tomato paste (the one I have made for the past 3 years)
- arrabbiata sauce, spicy tomato sauce
- simple sauce
Tomato paste
I got the idea for arrabbiata and simple sauce from Jamie's Dinner Cookbook.
Arrabbiata sauce5 kg plum tomatoes, boiled and peeled
5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 handfuls of basil leaves, chopped
12 fresh red chillies (pierce the chillies with a knife so they don't explode when frying)
salt & black pepper
a pinch of sugar
2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
1. Fry the garlic in olive oil with chopped basil leaves and fresh chillies.
2. Add the peeled tomato (try to get hold of the tomato and leave the tomato whole)
3. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
4. Simmer for about 30 minutes then remove the chillies.
5. Break the tomato with a spoon (you can use the blender if you like) and carefully season again with salt and pepper.
6. Add the red wine vinegar to give a little twang.
* the seeds can be a little bit bitter, if you chopped the tomato straight away the sauce won’t be as sweet as it should be.
Simple sauce5 kg. plum tomatoes, boiled and peeled
5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 handfuls of basil leaves, chopped
2 fresh red chillies (pierce the chillies with a knife so they don't explode when frying)
salt & black pepper
a pinch of sugar
Follow the same steps as for arrabbiata sauce.
For sterilization:
1. Fill the sauce in the jar and close with the new lid.
2. Put the kitchen towel in the bottom of a big pot.
3. Put the jars inside the pot and wrap each jar with kitchen towels to avoid the jars to touch each other during the sterilization process.
4. Fill the pot with water until the water covers the jars for about 10 cm.
5. Once the water boils, keep boiling for 40 minutes more.
6. Leave the jars to cold in the pot, you will hear the "click" sound of the lids going down; it means the sterilization process is finished.
• If everything went through the process, you can be sure that the sauce will last for at least 2 years.
• You can make this as present by making a good packaging with some cute handwriting word.
