If you’re sitting on your rattan garden furniture wondering what on earth to do with a bumper harvest of tomatoes, here are three delicious tomato-based recipes.
Passata for the freezer
Having a batch of homemade passata in the freezer is a perfect way to make your tomatoes work for you all year round. Gently fry chopped tomatoes, a handful of chopped basil and six cloves of garlic per kilogram of tomatoes in olive oil until the tomatoes are soft. Add a tablespoon of caster sugar and simmer for another five minutes. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the skins, and your sauce is ready for freezing when cool.
Tomato chutney
For a kilogram of tomatoes, you’ll need 500 grams of chopped onion, two chopped apples, two crushed garlic cloves, 250 grams of sultanas, 200 grams of light brown sugar, a teaspoon of grated ginger, a teaspoon of mustard seeds and two cloves. Simmer this mixture for 45 minutes, then add 450 millilitres of malt vinegar and cook for a further 30 minutes, until your mixture is thick and pungent. Seal your chutney in sterilised jars for up to six months – it makes a delicious accompaniment with cheese and is a great way to spice up a sandwich.
Classic tomato soup
Fry two cloves of garlic, a diced carrot, a diced onion and a chopped celery stalk, along with 1 kilogram of fresh, quartered tomatoes. Once soft, add a litre of vegetable stock, a teaspoon of sugar, some tomato puree and simmer for 20 minutes. Blitz your mixture in a blender until smooth, season to taste and serve with chopped basil for garnish.
With these three recipes up your sleeve, you can make the most of your delicious crop of tomatoes.
