A way to a man's heart....

is via homemade tomato sauce……well it is to my hubby’s. He loves it and it is very guarded – not too many people are allowed to be given a bottle. Well it is tomato time at the fruit market – a case of sauce tomatoes for $17 – so that means work for me. Last night I decided to make another double batch of my Tomato and Chilli Sauce ……. don’t worry it’s not that hot……..the chilli just adds a bit of extra flavour.

First I chopped up 3kg of tomatoes – just chunky bits as I always moulis my sauce.

To the tomatoes add 1 tablespoon coarse cooking salt; 3 cups sugar; 1 1/3 cups of white vinegar and 6 red chillies chopped (I put in seeds and all – depends on your taste)

Then into a piece of muslin / cheesecloth I put 6 cloves of garlic; 3 tablespoons of pimentos; 6 teaspoons whole cloves and 1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns. Tie it up securely – I used a piece of old pre-made bias binding left over from my past clothes sewing life – but string will do.

Stir the tomatoes etc over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the ‘spice bag’ – I always leave one end of the bias a bit longer and tie it to the handle of the boiler…..makes for easy retrieval. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Now this is where I differ from the original recipe - I simmer my sauce for about 2 ½ hours (instead of the 45 minutes they suggest). Remove the spice bag. I then put my sauce through a moulis……..this belongs to my mother-in-law but she has given it to me….yeah…it’s great for sauce making as it removes all of the tomato skins.