HOW TO KEEP TOMATO FRESH RECIPES

Steps:

• Cut tomatoes in half horizontally. Squeeze out the seeds and discard, if you wish. Press the cut side of tomato against the large holes of a box grater and grate tomato flesh into a bowl. Discard skins. You should have about 4 cups.
• Put tomato pulp in a low wide saucepan over high heat. Add salt, olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, basil and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a brisk simmer.
• Reduce the sauce by almost half, stirring occasionally, to produce about 2 1/2 cups medium-thick sauce, 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust salt. It will keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator or may be frozen.

Steps:

• 1. To make the basil oil, pick the basil leaves and finely chop the stalks. Put a few leaves in a bowl of cold water for later, then place the rest in a pestle and mortar. Add a pinch of sea salt and bash the basil leaves until they have broken down into a dark green paste. Transfer the paste to a jug and add your extra virgin olive oil. Mix together well.
  2. To make the soup, add a lug of olive oil to your biggest pan over a medium heat. Peel and slice the garlic and add to the pan with the basil stalks. Fry for about a minute then add all the tomatoes. Stir in 150ml of water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a medium heat and let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes until they are slightly broken down. If your tomatoes are nice and ripe they’ll be naturally sweet and soft, which means you won’t need to cook the soup for too long.
  3. Remove the soup from the heat, add a splash of red wine vinegar then carefully blitz with a hand blender until you get a consistency that’s to your liking.
  4. Serve in warm bowls with a spoonful of bright green basil oil swirled on top and sprinkled with the reserved basil leaves. You can even eat any leftovers cold from the fridge for a really fresh, light soup.