roasted tomato passata

I must share with you my latest kitchen staple, a roasted tomato passata that is so rich and delicious and versatile.

For a long time I haven't bought tomato paste but I've been thinking recently that, surely, there must be an alternative to canned tomatoes though so many of my recipe call for them.The canned tomatoes, however organic, contain preservatives.

Since I began ordering our weekly produce through Lettuce Deliver (which I calculated at being on a par - if not cheaper, at times) than a supermarket buy which included only some organics) I realised that there's a healthy and cheap way to make my own passata.

I don't know about other organics companies but Lettuce Deliver has a weekly special on organic cooking tomatoes. I can get a kilo for $3.50. Some of them arrived a bit bruised or misshapen but I usually only have to cut out a miniscule amount of flesh from one or two tomatoes.

Here's how I make roasted tomato passata:

This recipe makes 2 litres. 

Preheat the oven to 200ºc. 

Including the stalks, chop half a bunch of organic parsley and place this in a large baking tray. Quarter 2 kilograms of medium sized organic tomatoes and scatter them in to the tray.

Add 1 large red onion and 8 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste), a generous sprinkle of sea salt and a very generous layer of freshly ground black pepper. Liberally cover the tomatoes with olive oil and bake for an hour. I like my tomatoes to caramelise at the edges (you know that sticky, sugary goodness that comes from the slightly overcooked fruit?) so I leave them in until they are done but not burned.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes to avoid being burned when you transfer in to the food processor. Carefully tip the contents of the baking tray in to a food processor and blend until you have achieved a desired consistency.

If you, like me, use a Thermomix I used /TURBO/10-15 seconds.

I mentioned versatlity.....

I use passata on pizzas, as a sauce for pasta on it's own or mixed with additional veggies and meat for a sauce. I use my passata in any recipe that calls for a tin of tomatoes or tomato paste - curries, nachos, the list goes on. This freezes very well and I freeze it in portions (large for pasta, small for pizzas).

Can you think of other alternatives for passata?

Today I tried a new Ottoleghi recipe which included my passata. I'll post the results soon.



This post is NOT sponsored by Lettuce Organics.

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in the kitchen

It's been a really busy few weeks lately and I managed to get myself back in to my happy place - my kitchen. 

Yesterday between school drop off, a visit to my husbands work, a quick trip to the supermarket & school pick-up I was able to dedicate time to dinner & a little tastebud luxury.  

A few weeks ago in Byron Bay my best friend from high school and I ate some really yummy food. I realised that the food trend in Byron is definitely raw food with every second cafe selling some trendy healthy treat. Our favourite became a small juice bar on the Main Street a stones throw from the beach. One evening for dessert we shared a gluten free brownie and a slice of raw carrot cake because we just couldn't have just one, could we? 

Moments before we drove back to Ballina airport to fly home I made the hasty decision to grab a piece of raw chocolate & pistachio cake to eat on the plane. It was rich and delicious! 

Here are a couple of sneaky pics I took of the display cabinet (with the hope of replicating the recipes at home). 

I thought I'd ask my trusty foodie FB followers of they knew of raw carrot cake recipes and they came up with these four. 

http://rachaelsrawfood.com/carrot-cupcakes-with-orange-vanilla-frosting/

http://www.thehealthychef.com/2013/07/raw-carrot-cake/

http://rawgasm-melbourne.blogspot.com.au/?m=1

http://www.movenourishbelieve.com/recipes/recipe-of-the-week-raw-carrot-cake/

Don't they sound divine? I decided I wanted to go with the layered effect and so chose the rawgasm recipe to make first. Of course this could be made in a food processor but the Thermomix meant it was ready in minutes. 

The few changes I made were not soaking the raisins, using 6 medium carrots, using one tablespoon of agave and lime juice. I also pressed it into a rectangular tin so I could easily slice it into snack-sized squares. I'll freeze some for later too. 

The end result is a moist and tasty dessert. 

Since our stay at a friend's sheep station on the Monaro just after Xmas my husband has developed an interest in hunting and preparing meat for family meals and while it's impossible to do in suburban Sydney we'd like to think that maybe we can make our dream lifestyle happen. To celebrate J's birthday I took him to the majestic Elizabeth Bay house for this afternoon of gastronomy put on by Sydney Living Museums.

We were lucky to chat with Rohan from Whole Larder Love and bought ourselves a copy of his book. Rohan's passion for sustainable, ethically killed and prepared (i.e. no waste) food is infectious.

Our new organic produce delivery company, Lettuce Deliver has bags of 'seconds' tomatoes. Beauty is on the inside, right? And for these tomatoes the saying couldn't ring truer. They were shaped oddly and had a few 'riper' spots but they looked and smelled delicious. I took Rohan's advice and made a batch of roasted tomato passata. Obviously the passata has a richer flavour and depth to it (than raw tomatoes whizzed up) and was the perfect base for a bolognaise this week.

Lastly, in my hectic moments in the kitchen I made a marinade for these organic chicken pieces which included an organic reduced salt Tamari, a few organic garlic cloves, the juice of two limes, a tablespoon of honey, a knob of finely sliced ginger and a splash of sesame oil with a generous sprinkling of black sesame seeds. These were marinated for four hours then cooked for 20 minutes at 200ºc and were well received by the young and older members of the house!