Let the squirrelling begin!

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New shoot

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Let the squirrelling begin!
« on: August 08, 2018, 11:31 »
No preserves or pickles done yet, but I am full steam ahead on the tomato sauce for the freezer.  7 tubs so far and another mountain of tomatoes is looming.

The quince tree is loaded this year, so looking forward to making quince chutney.  Supplies are running short and it is far too nice to be without  :ohmy: 

My inner squirrel is waking up for the autumn season  :lol:


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mumofstig

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2018, 12:27 »
Tomato sieving here today, into jars later  ;)

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Growster...

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2018, 20:37 »
Tomato sieving here today, into jars later  ;)

Mum, is this for passata?

Our passata seems to vary so much, I'm wondering what's not quite right sometimes!

In a few weeks time, we're going to be inundated with toms, and while I'm a pasta man, (not literally you understand, although I may feel like a good gnocchi sometimes - depending on the day of the week), I'm wondering where I'm going wrong. Mrs Growster always uses frozen toms during the winter, but the future glut will create problems with freezer space...

Perhaps I should ask - or maybe you know the answer already, of the best way to create a good passata which takes up little room!

(Oh blast, is this for 'cooking' on the forum now...)?

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snowdrops

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2018, 20:43 »
I roast my tomatoes, then blitz the lot, sieve & last year I then put it all back in the roasting tin & put it back in the oven to reduce, before cooling & freezing. I gave up trying to reduce it in a pan as it just spits everywhere.
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mumofstig

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2018, 21:25 »
The method I use is here
Passata time of year again! in Cooking, Storing and Preserving - Page 1 of 2
A bit of a palaver but it's an authentic passata recipe (basically just thickened sieved tomatoes)
 
If you carried on cooking it long enough it would be a puree, which you could reconstitute to use  ;) So you decide how thick you want it to be before you freeze or bottle it. I like mine thick enough to use as a plain sauce over pasta, without needing to add anything to it.

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New shoot

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2018, 08:17 »
I do a simpler sauce with pips in.  Gently cook chopped onion and garlic to taste in olive oil.  Meanwhile pour boiling water over a big bowl of tomatoes (I use a mixing bowl full).

Skin the tomatoes and roughly chop into the pan.  Add salt.  Simmer gently until reduced by half, then cool and freeze.  It blips away for an hour or more and just needs an occasional stir.  You can reduce it further if you want or add herbs, chilli or other seasonings.  I just do a plain sauce that is ready to go and add flavours to it as I need.   

It is the essence of pure summer tomato and just seeing it stacked in tubs in the freezer cheers my winter up no end  :D  You can jar and water bath it as well if freezer space is tight.

I did a huge pan last night and left it to cool, so best deal with that and get it stashed away  :lol:

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mumofstig

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2018, 09:03 »
I do a simpler sauce with pips in.  Gently cook chopped onion and garlic to taste in olive oil.....

You add cooked onion, I don't, I sieve pips out, you don't.
One's called sauce one's called passata. Absolutely gorgeous whichever method you use  :D
I think the secret is simmering them for much longer than you'd think, to get that really thick texture and real tomatoey taste. Yum yum!
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Note 1: You can't be sure that tomato sauce/passata put into jars will keep more than a week or two, unless you waterbath them. Simple heat sealing, as for jam, is not reliable for tomatoes.
2: You should not add any more veg to these recipes (eg peppers/chilli/aubergines) if you want to bottle them. It is the acid in the tomatoes which is preserving them. If you want to add extra veg then you must freeze it, or add when heating through to serve.

I'd hate anybody to get an upset tum and blame me   :ohmy:

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Growster...

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2018, 11:29 »
Thank you Ladies - we do a combination of all these with toms, we also often make the mistake of letting some small Sungold in the mix if we have too many, and the skins on these are not that fantastic when cooked...

I think 'Shirley' seem to be the easiest to use, as they're uniform, but I'm looking forward to adding some 'Chocolate Cherokee' for a change in colour!

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New shoot

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2018, 10:21 »
but I'm looking forward to adding some 'Chocolate Cherokee' for a change in colour!

They make a fantastic sauce - loads of flesh and few pips and the taste is pure magic.  They will add a deeper, richer note to the Shirleys :)

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sunshineband

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2018, 15:25 »
I use a similar method to New Shoot, and then waterbath the jars and the contents last for at least a year. With the addition of some spices, plus a hidden courgette or two, a whole variety of sauces arise. The key to their long life lies in having at least 70% tomato as they are nicely acid, plus of course the waterbathing

Trays of tomatoes awaiting transormation as we speak.....
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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2018, 10:36 »
I've made and frozen loads more tomato sauce since my last post, but it was a bit damp and dreary here on Sunday, so I started looking at my preserving books - fatal  :lol:

A sweet tomato chutney is currently bubbling away.  Its a Madhur Jaffrey recipe I remember making years ago (pre having a garden) with shop bought tomatoes and it was delicious.  I reckon with homegrown tomatoes and garlic, even homegrown bay leaves to flavour it, it will be wonderful.  It is also spiced with mace, ginger, garam masala and fenugreek, so the house smells great  :)

I found punnet peaches at Trasco yesterday for 49p, so a dozen of them are currently ripening on the windowsill for peach chutney.  I had this a couple of years ago as part of a posh ploughmans at a local pub and have been hankering after making some ever since.  At just over 10p each for large peaches,  it seems rude not to  :D

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madcat

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2018, 11:13 »
I found punnet peaches at Trasco yesterday for 49p, so a dozen of them are currently ripening on the windowsill for peach chutney.  I had this a couple of years ago as part of a posh ploughmans at a local pub and have been hankering after making some ever since.  At just over 10p each for large peaches,  it seems rude not to  :D

You will be looking for where you can fan train a peach tree after this, I promise you!   :lol: :lol:

The little yellow egg plums are ripe at the bottom of the garden - a lot have codling moth larvae so in half to check, then the good ones lightly cooked and pureed for icecream in the winter.
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mumofstig

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2018, 14:51 »
I picked some ripe peppers at the weekend, and made the first small batch of red pepper paste. I filled 6 holes in the ice cube tray for my efforts :D
But the paste does wonderful things to any tomato based casserole or sauce that you add it to  :)

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Growster...

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2018, 15:06 »
We had a serious clear-out of our two freezers on Sunday...

Two binbags of old toms, pumpkins, squash and other stuff went straight into the bin! Elder daught had instructed us!

It was a cathartic experience, especially as some stuff had been there for two or three years, and so we've done the deed!

So what happens? A visit to MandS in T.Wells brings home a ton of stuff to fill the gaps, but doesn't it all look fabulous now!

;0)

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lettice

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Re: Let the squirrelling begin!
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2018, 16:20 »
Did my first patch of passata yesterday.
I just with a little sizzling olive oil in the bottom of the pan, put in a load of San Marzano tomatoes cut into quarters bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour, stirring now and again. Nothing else, keeping skins on.
Blitz in a blender and divide between freezer trays and freeze for a few hours.
Out come the trays, pop out the cubes into a tub for the freezer.
Just take a few cubes out when needed and put straight into the cooking pot.

A little journey of some of them on the plants and picked this year and my freezing method.

tomato paste.jpg

 

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