Pasatta

Last post 23-09-2009 5:49 PM by sue1002. 15 replies.

• 09/09/2009 10:42 AM

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070

  Reply | Contact Although we lost our tomato plants at the garden, the plants at home in the courtyard have done really well, so I've been making pasatta. There are no amounts included in this recipe because I didn't measure anything. Ripe tomatoes - plum tomatoes are very good for this. Olive oil Optional - garlic, fresh or dried oregano - good if you're using the mix for pizza base. Heat a little olive oil in a large pan and warm the garlic without frying it. Halve the tomatoes and cook them very slowly until they are very soft. Add the oregano, if using and simmer for a minute or two. Put the mix through a sieve then put it back in the pan and reheat until it reaches bottling temperature (about 80C), then pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal immediately. I recently bought a pasatta mill (from Seeds of Italy), which makes it all so much easier. This mill removes skin and seeds very easily and quickly.

• 09/09/2009 11:51 AM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,464	Reply | Contact  Thanks for this one Miranda. I don't have a pasatta mill but I'm guessing that whizzing it through a blender would take care of the skins and seeds. sue1002

• 09/09/2009 11:56 AM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070	Reply | Contact It does if you whiz it for long enough, Sue. One time I didn't and there were tiny shreds of skin left in it, but by then it was a lot easier to sieve.

• 09/09/2009 02:51 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,464	Reply | Contact  Excellent, thanks Miranda. sue1002

• 09/09/2009 03:15 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 3,125	Reply | Contact Oh Miranda - What have you done?!?!?! I'm just about to spend a small fortune on that link - what a brilliant site!

• 09/09/2009 03:22 PM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070	Reply | Contact We ordered quite a lot from them last year, Susiq, and everything has done really well. What are you going to buy?

• 13/09/2009 06:25 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 3,125	Reply | Contact The passatta machine you've got some herb seeds and er (Gawd help me) truffles and more truffle trees - eeeks!!!!

• 16/09/2009 08:46 AM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070	Reply | Contact Susiq, I find that if I put the skins back through a couple of times then a surprising amount of pulp still comes out them. Truffles, eh? Does the site say how long it takes for them to start growing?

• 16/09/2009 08:30 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 4,538	Reply | Contact  Please let us know how you get on with the truffles, Susiq. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 19/09/2009 06:26 PM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070	Reply | Contact I made up another batch of pasatta today, then went out and picked the rest of the tomatoes and now there's a new pile to do that was bigger than the last lot. Looking forward to some good sauces!

• 22/09/2009 05:20 PM

  In reply to

  catymck Location: surrey Joined on: 12 Mar 2009 Posts: 171

  Reply | Contact Hi - I've been making passatta (& tomato puree) but freezing it rather than bottling.  I've never really tried bottling and I think I'm a bit frightened of it!  By the way, Lakeland also do a passata maker - called Tomato Master - which is brilliant and saves so much time and effort.  I too put the tomatoes through 3-4 times to get the last drop out. It's on offer at the moment for £14.68 rather than the £28 or so on the Seeds of Italy site- it looks very similar.  It aso does a great job ob raspberries and grapes - rather nicer results that a juicer, I think.

• 22/09/2009 06:41 PM

  In reply to

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070

  Reply | Contact That looks very similar, catymck. Makes things much easier, doesn't it! Any idea where it's made? Bottling isn't that tricky, you just need everything really hot and well-sealing jars. I started bottling because our freezer isn't very big and also because we were living in an area where we had a lot of power cuts, so bottling seemed like the way to go. I wasn't sure if it would work to begin with and then when I came to open the first jar of preserved apple, after leaving it in a dark corner of the garage for over a year, the seal was so tight that I couldn't get the lid off (had to ask a man to do it!) and the contents were pretty much the same as when they went in. Thought I may as well carry on doing it that way.

• 22/09/2009 09:07 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 4,538	Reply | Contact  I freeze everything as we've got a big freezer that's usually less than half full. Only downside is we have to eat a lot of takeways as the plastic containers are perfect for freezing fruit and vegetables. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 23/09/2009 03:31 PM

  In reply to

  catymck Location: surrey Joined on: 12 Mar 2009 Posts: 171

  Reply | Contact Maybe I'll give bottling a bash next year - the freezer isn't full yet.  You don't need to keep on getting takeaways - though it does sound like a brilliant excuse - I freeze stuff in clingfilm inside a mug or something then just wrap it up a bit better for storage or do tomato puree in ice cube trays. The Lakeland thing is made in Italy, seemingly by this lot www.rigamontipietro.it

• 23/09/2009 05:17 PM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 4,070	Reply | Contact They must use the same factory, catymck!  Give bottling a try - it's really nice to see the big cupboard in the garage filling up with jars. It's like the Olden Days. Phot's does have to keep eating take aways. Anyway, that's the main reason the ancients didn't freeze stuff - no take aways