OLIVE'S
TOMATO
SAUCE
NINA'S
TOMATO
SAUCE
go straight to the recipe for Olive’s Tomato Sauce
go straight to the recipe for Nina’s Sicilian Tomato Sauce
The recipe below is forty two years old, so it is absolutely tried and true.Sadly the Zyliss soft fruit peeler which was brilliant for tomatoes when in came in the red format was deleted from their range about three years ago. Whilst we inevitably wore one out every tomato season there was no complaint because it made life easy. However, the new format is not ergonomically as good and doesn’t seem to be as sharp. We have tried several brands and found none satisfactory.
So, we have headed back to the tried and true, coring, scoring and blanching tomatoes to peel them.
One of our friends, an avid cook, recently visited and added a new version to our tomato sauce repertoir, apparently Sicilian with the addition of anchovies, chilli and capers with a last minute generous handful of sweet basil leaves. We like it a lot and even better when using it, it really only takes adding olives, a few more anchovies and chilli to taste to turn it into an excellent fast Putanesca.
updated AO OCTOBER 2024
if you're a sauce virgin
If you are a sauce virgin read this article before you start. It is very important to ensure the food safety and longevity of your preserves…click here
This is a recipe, one of the very few that came from my domestic kitchen into my professional kitchen in 1981. It has changed over the years with the advent of soft fruit peelers, and where once, we used to score, blanche and peel the tomatoes we now use a soft fruit peeler…preferred brand Zyliss and we do, in honour of the tomato season and speed of process, buy a new one every year because 100 kilos of tomatoes is probably more than five times their intended use.
olive's
tomato sauce
5kg bag of ice
2.5kg – 5kg – 10kg tomatoes…scored, cored, blanched, skinned and chopped [1]
125g – 250g – 750g your best EVO
500g – 1kg – 2kg onions p/w finely chopped
50g – 100g – 200g garlic finely chopped p/w
5g – 10g – 20g Maldon sea salt
10g – 20g – 40g black pepper….freshly and coarsely crushed
2 – 4 – 8 bay leaves…fresh if you can
50g – 100g – 200g sugar…optional
50g – 100g – 200g Vine Valley white wine vinegar
In a wide and shallow pan, sauté the onion, garlic and seasonings in the oil until they are lightly coloured and all rawness has been cooked out. Add the remaining ingredients, stir through and then cook gently on very low heat stirring from time to time until it is reduced to a good sauce consistency.
We can never resist using some of the fresh sauce often something as simple as a pasta and we also like meat cooked in the fresh sauce.
We bottle the sauce in sterilised jars and, sometimes, as an extra safeguard further cook them in the sealed jars refer to the preserving bible and follow the instructions.
The sauce can be puréed in a blender, Thermomix or MyCook and bottled refer to the preserving bible and follow the instructions, but my preference is to keep it chunky.
The sauce is the base for many dishes from our kitchen.
work in
small bathces
[1] I like to work in small batches maybe about six large tomatoes at a time. Get your tomatoes scored and cored, then set up a suitably sized pot of boiling water Before you start. You can use a bucket or large bowl but we clean and sanitise our kitchen sink and use plenty of ice [we buy a bag from the servo].
Working a few at a time, drop the prepared tomatoes into the boiling water for a couple of minutes. JUST LONG ENOUGH TO LOOSEN THE SKINS. Lift them from the pot and drop them into the ice bath. Slip the skins off when they are just cool enough to handle with bare hands.
[2] Anchovies…ah anchovies! Of course we would all love to use Ortiz and if you can afford it there is no better choice. However, most of us mortals are faced with a less expensive choice. DO NOT buy anchovies from the shelf of your local supermarket. They need to be kept under refrigeration, so find your local continental wholesales, for us, like Omega Foods where they are kept in the fridge. DO NOT USE THE OIL and drain them well before adding to the onion and garlic.
[3] If you use salted capers, the night before, rinse them well under cold running water and soak them over night in Vine Valley white wine vinegar.
pictured above tomatoes that have been peeled with a soft fruit peeler…your call both methods take about the same time and patience.
nina's
sicilian sauce
for a 5kg batch
5kg tomatoes….scored, cored, blanched, skinned and chopped or peeled with a soft fruit peeler and chopped
250g EVO
1kg onions p/w, finely chopped
100g garlic p/w, finely chopped
20g freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
50g quality anchovies in oil, drained
6 Thai chillies finely chopped…see note below
50g Lilliput capers in salt, not washed off
4 fresh bay leaves
100g sugar
Parmesan rinds if you have them
Italian sweet basil leaves
In a wide and shallow pan, sauté the onion, garlic and seasonings in the oil until they are lightly coloured and all rawness has been cooked out. Add the anchovies, chillies and bay leaves and cook for a few minutes until the anchovies are broken down. Add remaining ingredients apart fro the basil leaves, stir through and then cook gently on very low heat stirring from time to time until it is reduced to a good sauce consistency. A couple of minutes before you are ready to bottle add the basil leaves, cook for a couple of minutes then turn the heat off. If the basil gets prolonged cooking it can become bitter.
the right chilli
Choosing your chillies requires restraint but there is no such thing as the right chilli. You can always add more but you can’t take it away once it’s there.
If you’re a gardener you’ll probably have chillies you can use any sort of chilli, the Thia chillies is just suggestion because their heat is fairly consistent.
and if YOU'Re Lucky
enough to have a great Crop
And if you’re lucky enough to have an absolutely mega tomato crop try tomato essence. Fiv kilos of tomatoes chopped, use a food processor you don’t want to crush the seeds it can make the essence bitter. Double layer of sterilised muslin and if your tomatoes are brilliant you can expect about 300g. Season it with salt and pepper and freeze it in ice block trays.
Serve in chilled cocktail glasses with an excellent gin that has been in the freezer for at least twenty four hours. Hanging method pictured right,