Tomato puree

Beautiful tomatoes!

Tomato puree – what a great way to deal with my tomato overload problem last week! Plus it forced me to pull the food mill out of the box (it was a Christmas gift last year). The food mill was much more intuitive to figure out than the mandolin was!


Simmer action

I used Martha’s recipe for the blanching and peeling of the tomatoes, and then attempted to make a chunky marinara with peppers, onions, and chicken sausage. The tomato puree was great (and pretty easy), but the marinara was a bit of a fail because I added too much red wine for the amount of tomatoes I had (1/2 cup wine) and I added it to the pepper, onion, sausage mixture thinking it could simmer and reduce. Unfortunately this turned the sausage into a wine color…so the ultimate product did not taste bad but it certainly wouldn’t win any points for appearance.


Tomato puree
Makes: about 3 cups

Ingredients
Food mill

2 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes, a mixture of plum and beefsteak

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions
Puree!

1. Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil. Prepare a separate bowl of ice water. Remove core and slice an X into the bottom of each tomato with a paring knife. Lower tomatoes (a few at a time) into the boiling water and blanch for 15-30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes from the pot and immediately plunge into the ice-water bath until cool enough to handle. Pull off each peel, using the paring knife. Tear beefsteak tomatoes into pieces.


2. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat, until fragrant and sizzling, but not brown. Add tomatoes and season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until tomatoes are falling apart and are reduced slightly, about 15 minutes.

3. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill fitted with the fine disk into a bowl (or puree in a food processor and strain out seeds). If not using immediately, let cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or the freezer for 3 months.

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Published by kbecker57

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