Ingredients:
- 8.5 kg tomatoes*
- 5 tbsp rock salt
- Olive oil
Putting it all together
Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters, removing the stems. Put them into a large pot.
Sprinkle salt over the tomatoes and heat it over medium high heat uncovered until the tomatoes release juice and start to boil. Keep boiling for about 30 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium low and leave simmer for about an hour.
Put a strainer over a large bowl and ladle in the tomato sauce and press down using the back of the ladle, until only the seeds and the skin remain in the strainer. Repeat until all done.
Pour the strained puree back into the pot. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer over low heat until its the consistency you want - this can take a number of hours. Some recipes use a dehydrator, but we had ours simmering on our fireplace for two nights. Be careful with the stove top/ fireplace method though, as the puree thickens, it has a tenancy to erupt like Mt Vesuvius and can make an awful mess.
Once done transfer the hot paste into clean jars using a spoon, pressing it down well each time you put a spoon. Flatten the surface and pour olive oil on top to form a seal.
Tighten the lid of jar and store it either in the refrigerator or in your pantry, away from sunlight.
*We used, predominantly, Grosse Lisse because that's what we grew, but it has a higher water content than, say, a Roma or San Marzano. Next year we'll grow proper paste tomatoes instead, but out of the 8.5 kg we ended up with 1.7L of paste.