Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Tomato Sauce for Freezer from Vicki Delany

It’s my favourite time of the year. Tomato season. All shapes, all colours, all sizes, I love them all. I eat them fresh in salads or sandwiches, cooked into pasta sauce or on top of pastry. I freeze the excess to enjoy over the long dark winter.

San Marzanos are generally the preferred type for making sauce, but if you don’t have a basket of plum tomatoes another sort of red tomato should do.

This recipe is strictly my own, meaning I made it up as I went along, but I do have a lot of experience in making tomato soups and sauces. (Be warned, this sauces simmers for a long time and boils down so you don’t get as much as you’d expect from a basket of ingredients)

Vicki Delany’s San Marzano Tomato Sauce

Approx 3 kg San Marzano or other plum tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and pepper

1 bunch basil

Add tomatoes to a large pot of boiling water and boil for about three minutes. Remove from water and submerge in a bowl of cold water. Peel off skins and any tough ends and chop roughly

Heat oil in large pot and add garlic and onions. Sauté until onions are slightly browned.

Add chopped tomatoes to the onions along with the tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer on low for approx. 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped basil leaves and combine.

Remove from heat.

At this point you can either leave the sauce as is, if you like a chunky sauce, or blend to the consistency you prefer if you like a smoother sauce. As I do.

Cool and add to plastic containers or glass jars and freeze.