We think of autumn as a time to harvest pumpkins, but around here,
it’s bonanza time for tomatoes, as well. Our tomatoes don’t get going
until midsummer because the night time temperatures are still too low.
The plants just sit in the ground and shiver. Long about October, they
are in full swing and we’re wondering what we were thinking to have
planted so many. A bowl of cherry tomatoes sits on the kitchen counter,
ready to grab for snacks, and every dinner is accompanied by a salad
that’s mostly fresh tomatoes. What to do with the rest? Make pasta
sauce, of course!
The usual instructions call for dipping tomatoes in a bath of simmering water, then peeling the skins, and either scooping out the seeds or running the cooked pulp through a food mill, ricer, or sieve. I’ve tried the water bath technique, and find the prospect of standing over a steaming pot, getting my fingers burned, and sweltering in late summer heat less than appealing. So I’ve devised or adapted a couple of simpler, less painful approaches.
Method 1: One Pot, Food Mill.
Wash your tomatoes (this goes without saying, but is even more import if you, like we, let our tomato plants just sprawl all over the place, of particular merit when growing ginormous varieties like Mortgage Lifter; as the fruits ripen, place a plastic lid of appropriate size to shield them from ground moisture) and chop them into big pieces. Fill up a big pot. Do not add water.
Heat
up the pot, stirring to avoid burning as the tomatoes release their
juices and to mix up the more- and less-cooked chunks. Once everything
is more or less juicy, reduce the heat and simmer on low for hours. And
hours. Really. Open the windows and bask in a cool place, stirring every
half hour or so. It will thicken as it reduces down to a fraction of
its former size. When it’s however thick you like it, let cool a bit.
The usual instructions call for dipping tomatoes in a bath of simmering water, then peeling the skins, and either scooping out the seeds or running the cooked pulp through a food mill, ricer, or sieve. I’ve tried the water bath technique, and find the prospect of standing over a steaming pot, getting my fingers burned, and sweltering in late summer heat less than appealing. So I’ve devised or adapted a couple of simpler, less painful approaches.
Method 1: One Pot, Food Mill.
Wash your tomatoes (this goes without saying, but is even more import if you, like we, let our tomato plants just sprawl all over the place, of particular merit when growing ginormous varieties like Mortgage Lifter; as the fruits ripen, place a plastic lid of appropriate size to shield them from ground moisture) and chop them into big pieces. Fill up a big pot. Do not add water.
