This recipe is a must when tomatoes are cheap or when you seem to have an endless supply in your garden.
I use this yummy sauce for
- ''baked beans''- just add cannelloni beans and heat through.
- My vegetable Lasagne recipe
- My Beef soft Taco recipe
- Tomato Soup
Pasta Sauce Recipe
Fills about about 5 large perserving jars with seal's and screw bands or you can buy jars with pop lids.
1 large onion - chopped finely
4 large cloves garlic - chopped
2 sticks celery - sliced thinly
3 kg tomatoes - chopped with skins on - fresh or tin
bunch of fresh herbs - basil, oregano, thyme
1 cup or more dates - chopped, making sure there are no pips - this is for sweetening, especially if your tomatoes are not low acid.
Himalayan salt and black pepper
Method
1 - Place the garlic and celery in a large heavy base pot and with the lid on sweat on low until soft.
2 - Add the herbs cook on low for a few minutes
3 - Add the tomatoes and dates. Stirring every now and then and bring up to a boil.If you are using fresh tomatoes, cook them with the lid on stirring so they do not burn, until the tomatoes are soft.
Taste and season,
Option - at this stage you can use a metal stick blender and blend to make it smooth or slightly chunky. This is up to you.
4 - Heat your washed and wet jars in the oven at 100 c for at least 30 minutes. This will sterilise your jars.
5 - Preserving lids, place in a pot of water and bring to the boil.
6 - Place your jars on a wooden board and ladle the hot pasta sauce into your jars, to the rim. Leaving a gap. Place your lids on and the screw bands if you are using them and skew on tight.
As the sauce cools, the lids should concave in. If one or does not you will need to reheat and star the preserving process again for that jar. The screw bands will become loose, you can remove them.
Fresh or tinned tomatoes can be used. The tomatoes I grow are low acid.
I made double the recipe so I have a lot more dates than the recipe said.
Once all your ingredients are in your pot, bring up to a boil.
Have your jars hot and ready to go. Fill up to the neck of the jar, leaving a gap.
Once cooled, the seal should become concave. The screw bands if you are using these will become loose, you can remove them and store your jars in a cupboard or on a shelf to show off your homemade sauce.
I used this in my ''Vegetable lasagne''