Friday thoughts - Tomato sauce

As I didn't have to work on Wednesday, I put the day to good use by catching up on a few 'home' jobs. One such job was making tomato sauce. We like to have home-made sauce instead of shop bought as a condiment to a few of our meals. The latest stash was getting a little low, hence, out came the stock pot and away I went!

We bought saucing roma tomatoes a couple of months ago and I weighed them out into 3kg lots and placed them in the chest freezer (in large snaplock bags), ready for such a moment. I've used frozen tomatoes before, placed them straight into the pot, cranked up the heat and let them thaw and cook down. There is a little more juice, you just need to be prepared to cook the sauce a little more. Cook the sauce on a day that you are at home, pottering around the house, as it does take some time.

Here is the recipe, if you are interested. The recipe is sourced from a book of recipes that were collated from a church ladies guild. Unfortunately, the original creator of this recipe is unknown and I cannot give them credit. I've tweaked it a little to suit my tastes...

Ingredients:

• 6kg ripe tomatoes
• 4 large apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 large onions, peeled and diced
• 5 cups sugar
• 4 cups white vinegar
• 4 tsps salt
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:

In a large pot, place the frozen tomatoes in and let them cook down (I use a high heat, but once the mixture starts to boil, turn down to low/medium heat). Once cooked down add the apples and onions. If not using frozen tomatoes, place them in a large pot with the apples and onions. Cook until soft. I then get out my stick blender and blend it until there are no more chunky bits. If you are a sauce connoisseur, you could put the mixture through a food mill or sieve to get rid of the seeds. Take the pot off of the stove and add the remaining ingredients, making sure that the sugar is last and well stirred through. Place back on the stove and cook for at least 3 hours or until the sauce is to a desired consistency (it should be starting to thicken up). Pour into clean, sterilised bottles/jars. I 'water bath' the jars for 12 minutes to seal and extra sterilise everything.

Do you have any favourite recipes?

Have a great weekend!