Picket Fence Style Salsa Di Pomodoro

 We are having a massive season with our tomatoes. With such a big crop we have eaten bucket loads and traded even more. I was looking at making chutney when a dear friend suggested passata di pomodoro. This being a tomato puree with the skins and seeds removed with a sieve. We don't have a moulle or a decent sieve ( on the list !)  so the Picket Fence children and I made a twisted version of salsa di pomodoro...a Neapolitan style tomato sauce....we left the seeds in :) 5kg of tomatoes gave us 7 jars of sauce ( 750gm jars) What I loved about making this was the fact that it was a family effort...the Picket Fence children did the lot (with supervision ) we learnt how to preserve and they had lots of fun...life skills, self esteem points and education ...love it :)

Halve fruit and remove stems, Cook in a heavy based pot with a little water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Cool .

Spoon into a food processor and give the mixture a quick whizz. This is enough to let you pick the skins out . Discard the skin. Process for around 1 minute until pulpy.

Throw some Basil leaves into sterilised recycled jars. ( We sterilised ours in Milton antibacterial solution and cold water....too easy. You can however, boil your bottles or sterilise them in an oven)

Ladle the mix into the jars through a funnel ( Note to self...hunt for vintage enamel funnel on EBay) Leave about an inch at the top of each bottle. Seal immediately with sterilised lids.

Place jars in a pot with water to cover ( I found my old vacola steriliser unit after this ) and boil for an hour.....let the bottles cool in the water.

Employ industrious kitchen slaves to make bespoke labels out of recycled bits and pieces.

Your sauce should last 12 months in a cool dark well ventilated place. Add onions, garlic etc at point of use. Don't panic if the sauce looks to separate in the bottle after time....this tells you it's not full of chemicals to bind it and seduce customers on a supermarket shelf. Shake it :) and enjoy.
Next we are going to try making mint jelly and then jams....fingers crossed we succeed . What are you doing in your school holidays ? I'd love to hear !