Home made tomato sauce - recipe

Last year I my tomatoes didn't go so well but luckily my neighbour's did. He shared a huge bucket of them with me. I made 2 litres of tomato sauce (ketchup). We have worked out way through one and I gave the neighbours the other. Their teenage daughter loved it and theirs was gone before we had even amazed half of ours.

This year my tomatoes are going beautifully. I tried a technique on my plants I saw on a Tv programme while we were in Sydney for our holiday. They removed the majority of the branches and leaves that were not going to be fruiting. It seemed logical since that would allow the plant to put all the energy into the fruit. 

I picked about 2kgs of tomatoes today to make into a sauce (ketchup). This year I am following a recipe by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall from River Cottage. The tomatoes are roasted with a bit of garlic and oil first, then pulped, strained and the other sauce ingredients cooked up with them.

The smell of the tomatoes roasting was amazing.

While the recipe looks a bit of mucking around, it really was pretty easy.

Home Made Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)

River Cottage recipe

Roast sieved tomatoes

Here's the basic procedure, but do vary the amounts of garlic and herbs to suit your own taste. Makes about a litre.

At least 2kg ripe, full-flavoured tomatoes - use different varieties and a mixture of sizes, all cut in half

2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few sprigs fresh thyme and marjoram (optional, but preferable)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Arrange the tomato halves - tightly packed but not on top of each other - in an ovenproof dish. Mix the garlic with the oil and trickle evenly over the tomatoes. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and throw in the herbs, if using.

Roast for 45-60 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft, pulpy and slightly charred. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve, discard the skins and seeds, and that's it - your sauce is ready to use.

Roast tomato ketchup

Another one where the spice mix is yours to customise - but please don't kill off the essential tomatoeyness of it. Makes about a litre.

1 litre roast tomato sauce (see preceding recipe)

100g soft brown sugar

100ml cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp ground black pepper

Pinch of ground mace

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp ground coriander

2 bay leaves

Put the tomato sauce into a large saucepan and add all the other ingredients. Cook over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer gently, stirring frequently so the mixture doesn't stick, for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce is reduced, thick and rich - it doesn't have to be as thick as bottled ketchup, though. Taste and adjust the flavour as necessary with a little more salt, sugar, cayenne pepper or vinegar. Leave to cool, then pour into sterilised bottles and seal. The ketchup will keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.