I love home made tomato paste and it is very easy to make.
As you will know, commercial pastes have oils in them and often are loaded with preservatives and other nasties.
This makes them very no-no for phase 2 of the protocol.
The addition of tomato paste to a dish can make the difference between bland or divine! It is rich and full of flavour and enhances so many recipes.
So, lets get started. I make this in bulk. When I see a box of tomatoes at the greengrocer marked down, or if I have a glut of tomatoes in the garden I will make paste.
No measurements required here, you just need a couple of kilo of tomatoes really. You can add herbs, salt/pepper, garlic or onion to taste if you want but I tend to make mine just plain with a dash of salt.
Because this is a time consuming task I sometimes cheat a little. I roughly chop the tomatoes and put them in a pot on the stove top and boil them for an hour or so to give the reduction a head start.
In the mean time I get my baking dishes organised and turn the oven on to 180c.
Next, I drain off some of the liquid and then puree the tomatoes, no de-seeding here cos I am lazy!
Pour into baking dishes and pop in the oven.
Now the time intensive part starts. You need to check this at least every 30 minutes and give the tomatoes a stir. The over all process will take about four or so hours.
You cannot leave this to do it's thing or you will burn it!
When your mix starts to look like this, turn the oven down to 160c as you don't want your tomato mix to burn.
You are nearly done!
A little longer and you are done!
This is beautiful stuff.
There will be a tiny bit of liquid in your mix but that is ok.
Just take the time to smell this. It is heavenly stuff.
Now, you can preserve this in jars (like jam) or you can do what I do.
I pop it into ice cube trays and freeze then tip into a plastic bag/container and keep in the freezer.
This makes it handy for cooking, especially if you don't want to have a jar sitting in the fridge for a long time.
