Recipe | Tomato Sauce — by Bri DiMattina

Bri DiMattina’s grandparents both immigrated to New Zealand from Italy as children, meeting and moving to Nelson when they had their children. Her nonna and poppa’s food garden was enviable, Bri recalls, with every inch of their quarter acre property filled with vegetables and other edibles.

Words by Bri DiMattina, Nostrana

Tomato Sauce

This recipe in Nonna’s book has ‘Mum’s’ in the top right-hand corner, so this is actually my great-grandmother’s recipe, from Napoli. Simply put: we grew up on this. It’s one of those sauces that gets better as it ages. A bottle of this is pure gold.

I used to make this with supermarket tomatoes, but decided I needed something fleshier and with less water content. This was before heirloom tomatoes were readily available, so I contacted an Italian guy in Wellington whose family had had the foresight to bring tomato seeds with them on the journey here from Stromboli. He had been growing them, and seed saving, every year since.

Months after we spoke, an envelope turned up in my letterbox. It had my address in tiny cursive writing on the front and nothing inside, or so I thought. On closer inspection I found about a dozen loose seeds in the far corner of the envelope. Since then, the tomatoes I have dubbed ‘Stromboli tomatoes’ have been grown in my garden every year, with me carefully saving the seeds.

The change in tomatoes has made a difference to the sauce. It’s not the end of the world if you use the standard reds. Honestly, the sauce is so good that I would use any tomatoes rather than have no sauce at all!

—

ALSO TRY: Zucchini Arancini — Recipe by Bri DiMattina

RECIPE — Tomato Sauce

—

MAKES: 3 Litres

INGREDIENTS —

1.8kg heirloom or homegrown

tomatoes, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 cooking apple, chopped

475ml malt vinegar

450g brown sugar

55g salt

1 1/2 tsp ground white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground cloves

—

METHOD —

Combine all the ingredients in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer uncovered over low heat for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Use a stick blender to puree until smooth, and then strain through a sieve. Alternatively, use a moulis to puree and strain.

Reheat if necessary, and use a funnel to transfer to sterilised bottles (see note) while hot. Seal bottles tightly.

This will last for months in a cool dark place, and is best stored in the fridge once opened.

—

NOTE: Add more cayenne if you would like a spicier version. The heat of the cayenne is very prominent for the first few days, but mellows into the sauce as the flavours combine with time.

—

STERILISING JARS

To sterilise jars or bottles for preserving, give them a good wash then put them on a tray in the oven at 120°C for 10 minutes.

Also try:

— Zucchini Arancini — Recipe by Bri DiMattina

— Polenta & Corn Fritters — Recipe by Bri DiMattina

— Flavours From My Italian Kitchen Garden: Bri DiMattina