Last week we wrote a post about how to make healthy, homemade pizza, in which we mentioned using tomato puree.
Our post prompted a message from mom Hayley in Wales, UK, who wrote to tell us how she makes her own tomato puree by oven-roasting the tomatoes.
Hayley was happy for us to share her recipe here so that you can make this mouthwatering and richly flavoured puree for use in YOUR homemade baby food recipes and, of course, for making meals for the rest of the family too!
Here’s what Hayley told us
I take around 4 lbs of ripe tomatoes, wash them and put them in a big enamel dish.
I use plum tomatoes if I can get them, otherwise just regular tomatoes.
Then I drizzle them with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch or two of black pepper.
After swishing the tomatoes around in the oil until they are thoroughly coated, I put them in the oven which I preheated to 350 deg F and roast them for at least two hours.
Sometimes I roast them for longer, which gives a thicker puree with a more concentrated flavour – it depends on what I’m using it for.
After at least two hours, take the tomatoes out of the oven (they should be brown on top) and leave them to cool down.
You might find that there’s a lot of liquid in the pan – that’s OK for a thinner puree, but if you want it thicker then I’d drain it off.
Finally, I pass the tomatoes through a fine food mill, which separates the seeds and any other bits you don’t want in the puree – and that’s all there is to it!
You can freeze the puree for future use – I take out some for my baby and freeze it into small portions and I add a bit of salt and some herbs to the rest and freeze it for our main meals.
Mmm – just reading Hayley’s message made our mouths water! You could also use this recipe to make a nice oven-roasted tomato soup (maybe use the shorter cooking time so it’s not too thick).
Thanks Hayley for your tip!