Tomate Frito Casero

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy sauté pan or casserole, about 30cm
• •Food mill with a medium plate
• •Wooden spoon or potato masher
• •Splatter guard
• •Digital kitchen scale

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the tomatoes

   Core the fresh tomatoes and cut them into quarters. There is no need to peel or seed them because the food mill will do that work later. If you're using canned tomatoes, tip them into a bowl with all their juice and crush them roughly with your fingers or a potato masher.

   Use the widest heavy pan you have. More surface area lets water escape, which shortens the cooking without scorching the tomato.
2. 2

   Scent the oil

   Put the olive oil and crushed garlic in a wide 30cm heavy pan. Warm them over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the garlic smells sweet and turns pale gold at the edges. Don't let it go brown. Burnt garlic stays bitter however long the tomatoes cook.

3. 3

   Collapse the tomatoes

   Add the tomatoes carefully because the oil may spit, then add the salt. Turn the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. The tomatoes will collapse and release their juice. Uncover and break them up thoroughly with a wooden spoon or potato masher.

4. 4

   Cook the water away

   Lower the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 60 to 90 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes at first and every 3 to 5 minutes as the sauce thickens. Fresh tomatoes usually need the full time; canned tomatoes may be ready after 45 to 60 minutes. Use a splatter guard if needed, but never a lid, because the water must escape.

5. 5

   Catch the frying point

   Watch for the change that decides the sauce. The loose simmer will become a slower, heavier bubbling, the colour will deepen, and small beads of olive oil will appear around the edges. Draw the spoon across the bottom. When the path stays open for about 3 seconds, the tomato has lost enough water to begin frying in the oil. That is tomate frito, not merely boiled tomato.

6. 6

   Mill until smooth

   Take the pan off the heat and pass the sauce through the medium plate of a food mill into a heatproof bowl. Work until only dry skins and seeds remain, then discard them. The sauce should be smooth but still have body, not whipped or pale.

7. 7

   Finish the sauce

   Return the milled sauce to the clean pan and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until you have about 900ml. Taste for salt. Add the sugar only if ripe tomatoes still taste sharply acidic; sugar cannot rescue a poor winter tomato. The finished sauce should sit on a spoon, then fall in a slow ribbon.

8. 8

   Cool and store

   Divide the sauce among clean containers and cool it promptly. Refrigerate within 2 hours, covered, and use within 4 days, or freeze in practical portions for up to 3 months. Filling a jar while the sauce is hot does not make it safe for the pantry.

Chef Tips

• •Buy ripe plum or pear-shaped tomatoes when they're heavy for their size and smell clearly of tomato at the stem. Soft or split fruit is fine once the damaged parts are cut away. Hard winter tomatoes aren't a bargain here, however cheap the box.
• •Out of season, replace the 2kg fresh tomatoes with 1.6kg good canned whole peeled tomatoes and all their juice. The sauce will be darker and less fragrant, but properly ripe canned fruit is better than pale fresh fruit pretending to be ready.
• •Don't add oregano, basil, pimentón, or stock to this Castilian version. Those seasonings may make a useful sauce, but they cover the clean tomato and olive-oil taste being built here.
• •A food mill removes the skins and seeds while keeping the sauce red and substantial. An immersion blender is workable at a pinch, but it leaves the skins behind and can beat in air, making the sauce paler.
• •Freeze the sauce in 150ml or 250ml portions. Small portions thaw quickly and are enough for eggs, meatballs, a pan of rice, or two plates of pasta without defrosting the whole batch.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce can be made up to 4 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Its flavour settles overnight and the garlic softens into the tomato.
• •Freeze cooled tomate frito in measured portions for up to 3 months, leaving a little expansion room in each container.
• •Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or warm gently from frozen in a covered saucepan with 15ml water, then uncover and stir until the original thickness returns.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 75g)