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**Olsson** · 09-03-2021, 02:45 AM

This is a recipe for tomato purée which comes out absolutely divine and works wonders as a pizza sauce. As a pasta sauce, it needs to be used in moderation, or with cream, since the taste is quite intense on its own. Personally, I use it as either a main ingredient or enhancer for more or less every dish that benefits from some tomato flavor, or just a kick of extra flavor. The purée will last about two weeks in the fridge or can be frozen. For ease of access, it can be frozen in ice cube trays, removed once frozen, and kept in some other container, to be used in small doses in a sauce, for example. Anyways, on to the recipe;

Fill up an entire roasting pan with tomatoes cut in halves, with the cut side facing up as level as possible. Pour some drops of olive oil on each tomato, trying to cover the surface of the tomato. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper (white or black depending on taste) and ground paprika quite liberally. Now for the key ingredient - completely cover each tomato in dried rosemary. Yes indeed - you should put a whole lot more rosemary on those tomatoes than you thought reasonable. This is easier done by hand for each tomato, than by sprinkling. Finally add some more drops of olive oil to each tomato, to sort of tie down the rosemary.

Shove the pan into an oven at 200-250 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, the temperature is in Fahrenheit, it is supposed to be that low. For 200 degrees, the tomatoes need to be roasted for some 6-8 hours, whereas for 250 degrees they need about 5-6 hours. They can safely be in the oven until the outer edges slightly blacken, but it isn't necessary to wait that long.

Pour the tomatoes into a pot, and make sure to include whatever fluid or oil that might still be in the roasting pan. Add the juice of half a lime, half a spoon of honey, a splash of soy sauce, and a couple of splashes of olive oil. For a hotter result, optionally add pepper/tabasco/etc. to taste. Mix everything thoroughly with a stick mixer and keep the stick mixer going for some extra time, in order to break up the rosemary a bit more.

Put the pot onto the stove and bring the mixture to a slow simmer. Depending on the size of your pot, you might want to add a lid, ever so slightly ajar, because as the mixture slowly thickens, the slow bubbles will spit tomato sauce around, like a sticky lava eruption. Keep it on a slow, slow simmer until you've reached your desired thickness, while stirring every now and then. Initially you only need to stir every 30 minutes, but gradually you need to stir more and more frequently, as the mixture thickens. As for thickness, while it is up to taste, I would advise a thickness alike to tomato purée. The cooking time will depend on the time you had the tomaoes in the oven, so it will pretty much even out, and there is no need to be especially precise with the time in the oven.

Leave to cool down and pour into whatever container of your choice. Refrigerate or freeze. I reiterate - the key ingredient is a stupendous amount of rosemary. I stumbled upon the amount the first time I made this tomato purée together with a friend - the kind of friend with whom it is easier to just let mistakes run their course, than wasting any energy on trying to fix them when you see them. Well, he was helping me out in the kitchen, and just POURED so much rosemary onto the tomatoes that I was 100% sure the purée would taste like you were eating dry twigs from all the rosemary. But I was very pleasantly surprised when it came out so superbly perfect that I keep it as a staple in my cooking. So - don't skimp on the rosemary.

Oh, and top tip - open the jar with this tomato purée whenever you pass the fridge just to take a whiff. Amaaaaaaazing!

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Oh you saucy devils

Oh you saucy devils

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