About Me

We moved out to Portugal to live a frugal but better , simpler and peaceful life, our house is a very basic, semi ruin, up in the hills outside Figueiro Dos Vinhos, where we work our land, enjoy life with each other and our dogs, and hope to make the smallest carbon footprint we can,

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Frugal Living, Quick & Simple Pasta sauce etc..

For Pasta sauces, tomato sauces and my purees, I do exactly the same as for the pie fillings, .
For pasta sauce, I chop all my excess veg, courgettes, peppers, green beans, aubergines etc... make sure the veg is all cut to similar sizes , add plenty of chopped onion, and garlic, and tons of tomatoes... I dont add any liquid... it will all simmer away in its own juices, and when all is soft and tender, season , I tend to add a little sugar...
Meanwhile wash and sterilise jars in boiling water as in last post for pie fillings, fill hot  jars with  piping hot sauce, making sure to leave a good gap at the top, fill this gap with olive oil... it makes a good airtight seal. Screw on lids and leave to cool.
This method works just as well for tomato sauce, I just chop the toms, add lashings of onions and garlic and herbs, obviously basil works well, so does oregano.. I dont add any liquid, they cook well in their own juices...
For tomato puree, just chop the toms onions and garlic add a small amount of good oil  and a good splodge of balsamic vinegar to a roasting dish, pile in the toms, a large heaped tin will roast down to a small amount, roast gently for ages... Im lucky I have a wood stove, when almost all the liquid have evaporated, and whats left is nice and thick and gloopy... add a little salt and a pinch of sugar. and blitz with a hand blender. reheat till piping hot... and put in hot jars as above... add your olive oil to seal tops and away you go... great to add on almost anything you want a concentrated tomatoey taste too...
I plan on making homemade tomato pasta this winter... just by adding a spoonful to the flour while Im making it