Glut recipes - Tomatoes

Tomato season is well and truly here, I've cleared out some space in the freezer to prepare for the tubs of sauce that will be taking up residence soon.  The damp start to summer and the fact that I may have slightly over-crowded the greenhouse has caused a few issues of the fungal variety but I think I've caught it in time and the fruit production doesn't seem to be affected, fingers crossed!  

The harvest in just one day, delish!

The sungolds and early fruiting bloody butchers have been fantastic, I can really recommend these variety for taste and yield.  The beef maestro are looking wonderful too, very big and plump, but they haven't started ripening so I can't judge the taste yet.  Shouldn't be too much longer though.  I'm impatiently waiting for my prize tomato ... I've been peering through the glass at it for a couple of weeks now, it is huuuuuge!

Peering through the glass at my prize tom!

Same as last year though, I planted far too many cherry toms, I must learn to restrict myself with these, ha!

In addition to the salsa in last weeks blog, this sweet chilli jam recipe below is a winner for using up a bumper tomato haul.  I made some last year and the first batch didn't quite set, it was perfect for sweet and sour stir fry sauce or dipping sauce, the second batch set a bit more jam-like and it was great for accompanying a cheese platter, cold meats or crudites.

I will mainly use the tomatoes for this basic multi-purpose tomato sauce. This goes straight in the freezer and from there, once defrosted, you can use it for a range of pasta sauces, bolognese or chilli.  Just add basil (and any other pasta favourites like bacon, mushrooms, chicken etc) for pasta sauce. Fry mince with a oxo cube for bolognese adding in oregano and red wine once cooked then pour in the sauce. Ditto for chilli except add cumin, chillies (or hot sauce) red wine and kidney beans along with the sauce.  Easy, quick and warming on winter days when summer is long gone.  

The start of tomato sauce season ... batch one of many

So there are my tomato basics but I am still looking for yet more ideas so that I don't get sick of tomatoes in everything. I even have a tomato pinterest board, feel free to follow and send me pins and recipes, I will be ever so appreciative!! http://www.pinterest.com/belle1207/tomato-glut-recipes/

Of course the best thing to do with tomatoes is just to eat them ... warm and ripe and fresh from the vine :)

Tomato Chilli Jam

• 500g ripe tomatoes (cores removed and roughly chopped)
• 4 red chillis
• 5 garlic cloves peeled
• 20g ginger (peeled & roughly chopped)
• 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (use soy sauce if you want to make it veggie)
• 300g sugar
• 100ml white wine vinegar

1. Sterilise the jars by boiling for 5 minutes or on the hot cycle of a dishwasher. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Place the jars upside down on a baking tray and dry in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat chopped tomatoes in a large heavy-based saucepan over a low heat until starting to break down just a little bit.
3. Add the chillies, garlic,  ginger, vinegar and sugar. Bring the mixture to the boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, or until very thick and you can draw a wooden spoon across the base of the pan so that it leaves a channel behind it that does not immediately fill with liquid.
4. Add the fish sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes, then spoon into sterilised jars.  If the seal on the jar lid does not give when you press down on it then it should keep for up to a year, otherwise store in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks.

Basic Multi-purpose Tomato Sauce

up or down scale the recipe depending on how many toms you have, it is worth saving them up to cook a big batch. This is a very simple recipe, but not to worry, you add more flavour with herbs and spices when you turn it in to it's final creation.

• 800g chopped tomatoes, I just remove the hard bit at the top & core of the tomato rather than faffing about removing skins and seeds
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced (preference depending)
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Fry the onions on a medium heat in a bit of olive oil until soft and starting to turn golden.  Add the garlic and fry that for a brief minute.  Dump in the tomatoes and cook until starting to break down, then add the tomato paste and season to taste. 
2. Continue to cook until the tomatoes have completely broken down and the sauce has lost its watery look and begun to thicken up.
3. Let cool and then divvy up in to portions for the freezer.  I find that half a 1kg yoghurt pot is plenty of sauce to turn in to a meal for 2.