Ingredients
- Lots of tomatoes – enough to fill your biggest soup pot
Instructions
- Heat a pot of water to boiling in a saucepan over high heat. Give each tomato a “bath” in the boiling water for about 20 seconds or so, then use a set of tongs to remove them and set them on a towel.
- After its bath, let each tomato sit until it is cool enough to handle. Pull the skin off the tomato, and cut out the core. Put the tomatoes in your soup pot until it is full.
- Set the soup pot on the stove over medium heat. After a bit of cooking, the tomatoes will start to release their juices. Use a ladle or small measuring cup to skim off some of the juices. I skimmed off about 1 quart of juice.
- Increase the heat then to bring the tomatoes to boiling, then reduce to a simmer. Let cook uncovered for several hours, stirring occasionally.
- At some point in the cooking process, use an immersion blender to blend up the tomatoes so there are no large chunks left.
- After about 4 hours of cooking, your tomatoes should have reduced significantly. As the mixture gets thicker and thicker, you may have to reduce the heat in order to keep the mixture from splatting too much (the taller your pan is, the better!). Keep cooking until the tomatoes have cooked down to a thick paste. For me it took about 5 – 6 hours.
- Freeze your tomato paste in small containers or can it in small jars using a hot water bath (as you would tomatoes).
Notes
Romas or other meaty tomatoes yield more tomato paste than the big heirloom tomatoes; however, you should use tomatoes that you enjoy the taste of because as the tomatoes cook down, the taste is magnified. I used a mix of Romas, Siberian tomatoes, and others from my mom’s garden.
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
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