Tomato Sauce

This one is for my lovely niece Jessica, who has an over abundance of tomatoes this season. She asked me if I had a good recipe and it  just so happens I do! 

For this recipe you will need to drink lots of chardonnay as the empty bottles make very good sauce bottles  :-)  
 

 

 

 You will need a large pan, one that holds at least 12 litres, but l suggest one even bigger than that if you have one. 10-15 EMPTY sterilised chardonnay bottles :-) .... or something similar if you decide not to drink the chardonnay. A long wooden spoon, a pouring jug, a funnel and some newspaper to spread on your work bench when bottling the sauce... it gets a bit messy.
 

 

I always use this jug for pouring whenever I make my preserves. It was my mothers and it's the one she always used. It must be at least sixty years old so of course the measurements on the jug are in pints. It never ceases to amaze me how one persons trash is another persons treasure!

 

INGREDIENTS

 10 kg ripe tomatoes cut into quarters 

1.5 kg onions, finely chopped

200 g garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1.5 kg sugar

1/2 cup salt

1.5 kg apple puree

1 bottle of Wilds Ezy sauce

 

METHOD 

 

Place tomatoes, onions and garlic into a large pan. Combine ginger with sufficient water to form a smooth paste and stir into the tomato mixture.

Boil gently, uncovered for 2 hours. The recipe I use said to strain through a course sieve at this point. I like a slightly more course consistency so I put mine through the food processor instead.

Add sugar, salt, apple puree and Wilds Ezy sauce, mix well. Simmer uncovered for approximately 2 hours or until it becomes a thick pouring consistency.Carefully fill into hot sterilised bottles and seal.

 

 Makes about 8-10 litres.

I find every batch I make varies in quantity so make sure you have a few extra bottles sterilised ready just in case. Also the amount of time it takes to thicken varies. Sometimes I add up to 4 tablespoons of cornflour mixed in enough water to make a pouring consistency at the end if it doesn't seem thick enough. Keeping in mind the sauce does thicken up slightly as it cools.

There's a lot of guess work really!

 

To sterilise the bottles I run them through the dish washer then once they're dry and just before the sauce is ready, I put them in a 200 C /400 F oven. With the screw top lids I put them in a bowl and pour boiling water into the bowl. Then let them dry naturally. If you're not using them straight away, loosely screw them back on the bottles till you're ready to use them. If you do this don't forget to warm the bottles again when you're ready to bottle your sauce. After the bottled sauce cool down enough to handle I make sure the lids are screwed on tight and wash them in hot soapy water, then set aside to dry.

 

Good luck xo