Tomatoes: Spicy Tomato Ketchup, Fruity Marinara Sauce and Pasatta

SpicyTomatoKetchup-0045

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: roughly 300 - 500ml

Ingredients:

Spicy Tomato Ketchup

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • thumb sized piece of ginger, minced

  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced

  • 60ml red wine vinegar

  • 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar, this depends on how sweet you prefer it to be.

  • 900g tomatoes, pulsed to a coarse purée in a food processor

  • 6 cardamom pods, cracked

  • 2-3 cloves

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder

  • ½ teaspoon garam masala. I used Masala Monsoon’s Rose Petal Garam masala

  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Fruity marinara sauce

  • 1 kg cherry tomatoes, coarsely choped

  • 2 - 3 garlic cloves, minced

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • handful of herbs, like basil, oregano, parsley stalks and all, chopped

  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Passata

  • 1 kg tomatoes

Method:

Spicy Tomato Ketchup

  1. Heat olive oil over low heat in a large skillet. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, this should take about 1 minute. Add vinegar, turn up the heat to reduce mixture volume by half, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved in the vinegar. Add tomatoes, whole spices and garam masala, bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover partly and simmer slowly until mix has reduced to a thick purée and there is little liquid in the pan, this should take about 45 minutes to an hour. Uncover and continue to simmer until all the liquid has cooked off, about 15 minutes.

  2. Season to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate if not using right away. Serve at room temperature.

Notes:

The ketchup is chunky, spicy and tangy and works well as a condiment with all sorts of items: try it with fish, chicken, meat or vegetables; use it as a dip or as a sandwich condiment or spread it on burgers.

Fruity marinara sauce

  1. Heat olive oil over low heat in a large skillet. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, soft but not browned, this should take about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, turning up the heat and allow to simmer gently until reduced and slightly thickened. Add the herbs with stalks and allow to cook in the sauce. This whole process should take about 30 minutes.

  2. Season to taste. Remove from heat allow to cool. Transfer to jars and refrigerate if not using right away.

Serving suggestions:

We love this sauce with mussels and pasta. For this steam mussels in the marinara sauce adding a splash or two of red wine to the sauce. Once the mussels have opened serve with linguine.

We also use marinara sauce as a tomato base for our pizzas and it is perfect for casseroles and dishes like eggplant parmigana. By adding a few anchovies, pitted olives, and even half a chili while reheating the sauce you have a great quick puttanesca sauce.

Passata

  1. Wash the tomatoes. With a sharp knife make 2 small slits on the bottom. Place them in boiling water and blanch them for a few seconds until the skins begin to peel away. Remove them with a slotted spoon or strainer.

  2. Line a bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the tomatoes to drain off any excess water.

  3. Run the tomatoes through a mouli to separate the juice from the skins and flesh. To do this, place the tomatoes in the mouli then turn the handle to start the process. The machine will squeeze the ripe tomatoes to extract the juice while separating the liquid from the skins and flesh. You'll need a large bowl or jug to catch the juice as it is squeezed.

  4. Place a funnel on top of a bottle and fill leaving a little gap at the top of each bottle. Seal and refrigerate until required.

Serving suggestions:

I use this as a base for most tomato based stews, tagines etc. Also I add a splash in curries or make quick tomato soup when in need of warmth!

Equipment:

  • Mouli or a tomato press

  • A funnel

  • Sterilized bottles and jars

Food Guide:

In my Preserving Summer guide I show you how to sterilize jars and bottles to make sure all your sauces, jams, jellies are stored properly.

A season of tomatoes: my tomato guide shows you how you can make the best of your homegrown crop, how to select and store and provides some great ideas of using your tomatoes.

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