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This week, Clare gets a taste for home-made ketchup |
Get saucy with the season’s plump red fruit
Clare Latimer spices up oven-dried tomatoes and gets a taste for home-made ketchup
MY neighbours in Cornwall, Julian and Joy, have grown so many tomatoes this year, (along with an array of vegetables that make Covent Garden Market look small!) they asked me what they could do with them so that they could eat them through the autumn.
This made me realise there will be plenty of you out there with tomato plants all producing these plump red delights, so here are a few ideas to help you make the most of your crop.
Oven dried tomatoes
I suggested to Julian that he asks a friend who has an Aga if he could use their slow oven over night as it is on anyway and saves his electricity – so ask around the neighbourhood!
Ingredients
12 to 16 ripe tomatoes
Crunchy sea salt
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Few twigs oregano, leaves only, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil.
Method
Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally and scoop out most of the seeds.
Dry the insides with kitchen paper and place on a roasting tin, cut sides up. Sprinkle over the salt, garlic, oregano and freshly ground black pepper.
Splash over a little olive oil and cook in a low oven at 100C / 200F / gas 1 for at least 12 hours.
Put the tomatoes in a sterilised kilner-type jar and cover with extra virgin oil.
Use in any recipe that requires sun-dried tomatoes.
Tomato ketchup
This is much tastier than bought ketchup and so much more fun to tell your friends that it is home-made.
If you put it into pretty sterilised glass containers and make attractive labels it makes a great present and it is always well received.
It can be served the usual ketchup way for burgers, sausages and, of course, chips!
Ingredients
1 kg ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and chopped
25g soft brown sugar
1 desp cider vinegar
¼ tsp mustard
1 small piece of cinnamon stick
1 small teasp whole allspice
5 whole cloves
1 small teasp ground mace
1 teasp celery seeds, crushed
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Sea salt
1 teasp smoked paprika.
Method
Put the tomatoes, onion and peppers in a large heavy pan over a medium heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until very soft.
Leave to cool for a few minutes, then blend and return to the pan with the sugar, vinegar and mustard.
Add the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, mace, celery seeds, black peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic and bring the mixture to the boil.
Reduce to a slow simmer, continue to cook, allowing it to bubble gently, stirring often, for 20 minutes, until thoroughly cooked and quite thick.
Leave to cool and pour the mixture into suitable bottles.
Store in the fridge for up to a month. I often freeze it in ice-cube trays and take out a cube when needed.
Saucy tomatoes
This is a perfect tomato sauce and especially good stirred into fresh pasta and topped with fresh grated parmesan.
Ingredients
1 kg ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
10 fresh basil leaves
2 bay leaves
1 desp sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Method
To skin the tomatoes, prick the skin with a sharp knife and then pour boiling water over them in a bowl and leave them for 1 minute.
Drain, rinse under cold water then peel and discard the skins. Chop up the tomatoes.
Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan with the onion and garlic and fry gently for five minutes or until they are soft and pale gold in colour.
Now add the chopped tomatoes and the basil leaves.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then simmer on a very low heat, without a lid, for one hour or until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are reduced to a thick, jam-like consistency.
Stir occasionally to check the sauce is not sticking.
At this point either use straight away, chill and store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze in portions for later use. |
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