[Growster...]

We make gallons of the stuff each year, and I'm coming round to the realisation that less is better than too much on one plate...

It's some time since we had a proper Italian dish, served up by people who actually understand the ways and wherefores of good Italian cuisine, but I really have forgotten how much to use on a regular, smallish pasta plate - any sort, ravioli, tagliatelle; you name it!

Sad really, as Mrs Growster is a dab hand at preparation, but me being a bit lumpen, I tend to use the lot...

...and it's really too much...

Any clues please...?

[mumofstig]

what size jars do you use to preserve your passata?
I use 375ml jars and this will feed 3 people by the time it's cooked with onions etc as it thickens more while cooking (well mine does anyway  )

You could use the rest of the jar as soup the next day 

If it's a pasta sauce you've preserved, rather than just sieved tomatoes, then I suggest an ice-cream scoop sized ladleful over the pasta, per person.

[New shoot]

Also, if you drain the pasta a minute or 2 before it is quite ready and sling in the pan with the sauce, it will slurp a lot up.  The dish will be much drier than just pouring the sauce over the pasta, but still be full of tomato flavour

[mumofstig]

I forgot to say that a little of the starchy pasta water, added to the sauce, will also thicken it.

Ah! you do it the other way round NS

[New shoot]

I bet we can agree on the final part though    Cheese makes everything better 

[mumofstig]

Yes, unless it's pasta with tuna, then it's truly bleugh!

[Swing Swang]

If you season the passata with a little red bell pepper paste (about 20% salt) instead of salt when making tomato soup with passata it does some amazing things to the flavour - this could just keep you making the same quantities next year...(as well as growing more bell peppers)...

Recipe for bell pepper paste:
http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/massa-de-pimentao-portuguese-red-bell-pepper-paste

[Growster...]

what size jars do you use to preserve your passata?
I use 375ml jars and this will feed 3 people by the time it's cooked with onions etc as it thickens more while cooking (well mine does anyway  )

You could use the rest of the jar as soup the next day 

If it's a pasta sauce you've preserved, rather than just sieved tomatoes, then I suggest an ice-cream scoop sized ladleful over the pasta, per person.

It's all frozen in small plastic 5.5" x 4" envelopes, Mum, with some more seasoned than others. I'm finding a full one is a bit too much, especially after fresh onion is added.

Re your comment about quants, I still rather like the Tesco Value jar when I can't find any in the freezer in time (!), and use a third of a 440ml jar at a time, freezing the rest. So I maybe have answered my own question, but an ice-cream scoopful does sound about right!

[Growster...]

Also, if you drain the pasta a minute or 2 before it is quite ready and sling in the pan with the sauce, it will slurp a lot up.  The dish will be much drier than just pouring the sauce over the pasta, but still be full of tomato flavour

Like that, News! I do that with pesto, and have just remembered that I came across a few bags last week...

Didn't even think of mixing it all beforehand, but then Growsters need help most days!

:0)

As for the cheese bit, yup absolutely certainement (Parmigiano)!

[Growster...]

If you season the passata with a little red bell pepper paste (about 20% salt) instead of salt when making tomato soup with passata it does some amazing things to the flavour - this could just keep you making the same quantities next year...(as well as growing more bell peppers)...

Recipe for bell pepper paste:
http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/massa-de-pimentao-portuguese-red-bell-pepper-paste

Ooooh thank you Swing! We're in Tesco this morning, and I'll root around!

(Just as an experiment, while watching TV last night, on a whim I used a spludge of Ketchup on some ricotta ravioli, and it wasn't half bad)!

It looks like I need to get hold of several of the freezer portions, and re-build them. I'd probably just cut the whole bag in half, and pop them back in before they melt!

[snowdrops]

How about freezing it in ice cube trays, then when frozen pop them out into poly bags then you could just get out as many as you need, or lay a sheet of cling film over a bun tray(12 holes or 6) fill up the bun holes with passata, open freeze then pop out & wrap in the cling, just pop out required amount- his is what we do with pizza topping, I bun hole is enough for a pizza for us both, with enough pizza for dinner one day & lunch the next

[Growster...]

Thank you Snows! I like both those ideas!

(Need the ice tray for G and T but that's another issue)!

I have thought of taking all the bags (about twenty) out of the freezer, remixing them, and doing what you say, but can one refreeze under the circumstances? There may just be a bit of meat in the odd one...

[snowdrops]

I wouldn't risk refreezing, perhaps plans for this years harvest, plenty of time to buy new ice cube trays or more suitable sized containers

[Growster...]

I wouldn't risk refereezing, perhaps plans for this years harvest, plenty of time to buy new ice cube trays or more suitable sized containers

Thanks, Snows!

Plans for next year being made as we type!

[Swing Swang]

Ooooh thank you Swing! We're in Tesco this morning, and I'll root around!

If you can get it in Tesco then let me know as I use a lot of this stuff - I either make it myself, bring back from abroad, or buy form a Portuguese deli