Kitchen Garden: Tomato sauce recipes as this year's harvest kicks off

At last, the local tomato harvest is underway. For most of us, it is a month later than usual and a large number of home gardeners have told me their crops are meagre. So Alan Robertson of Campbell is to be applauded. His first email was a photo of a Gigantomo tomato weighing 536g raised from seed from a co-plot holder at O'Connor community garden. More about that next week. Then we received Alan's photo of rows of tomatoes colour-coordinated on the kitchen bench which is reproduced here. Do you recognise any of them? From largest to smallest they are the Gigantomo, Hungarian Heart, a possible cross of the two above and they are pulpy like HH but without the heart shape. He weighed one Gigantomo and it came in at 814g. Then there are San Marzano, Grosse Lisse, Siberian, Tigerella, Tommy Toe, Cherry Cocktail, Yellow Pear and Sweetbite. MUST READS: The Yellow Pear variety came in Alan's Reid Tiny Farm order, along with the Black Cherry. Most of the Yellow Pear went to Companion House which is supported by the O'Connor COGS gardeners. Alan says the Sweetbite is a feral plant that's not producing a lot of fruit. The Cherry Cocktail and slightly larger Tommy Toe are similar but the Cherry Cocktails are more productive than the Tommy Toe. The Tigerella is larger and paler than the previous two. The Siberian and the larger Grosse Lisse are similar looking. The San Marzano plants have produced only moderately. On February 19, Alan gave away some of the tomatoes but more than replenished the stockpile the next morning when the giant HH was picked. Alan made passata and ketchup and most of the tomato flesh came 'from the biggies'. The tomato sauce (ketchup) recipe, which follows, comes from Sally Wise in A Year in a Bottle ABC Books 2008 and is also in her Out of a Bottle ABC Books, first published in Australia in 2010 by Harper Collins. As the author says, there is really no comparison between a homemade tomato sauce and the commercial varieties with the flavour of the tomatoes far more intense. Meanwhile, in exchange for Mandevilla self-sown seedlings Louise Moran of Curtin brought me two ribbed Costata Romanesco ribbed zucchini which look like stars when sliced and a big Hungarian Heart tomato. The variety was sourced near Budapest in the early 1900s. For a decade Louise has used a tomato relish recipe (which follows) first published in these pages by my former colleague Diana Lampe. It came from Elaine Lawson via the home of her parents, Bishopscourt in Adelaide and their family friend Mrs Gordon Harvey. Ingredients 6kgs tomatoes, roughly chopped 1kg onions roughly chopped 750g sugar 2 cups white or cider vinegar 120g cooking salt 1 1/5 tbsp whole cloves 1 1/2 tbsp allspice berries 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper Method Place all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring regularly, for four hours. Strain the mixture through a sieve, colander or food mill and return to a clean saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook for five minutes. Pour into warm, sterilised bottles and seal immediately, invert bottles briefly. Consume at once or store in a cool dry and dark place for up to two years. Makes about 2L. Note: ground spices may be used instead of the whole spices in this recipe. Bear in mind that these will make the sauce a little darker in colour. Ingredients 2kg tomatoes 500g onions 3 apples, peeled and cored 400g sugar 300ml cider vinegar 125g sultanas 1 tsp ground cloves 3 tsp salt 1 tsp chilli flakes (or powder, optional) 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds Method Blitz the tomatoes, onion and apple in the food processor (adding a little vinegar to moisten if necessary) until they are finely chopped (not mush). Put all the ingredients in the preserving pan, bring to a boil, and cook at a rolling boil for about an hour. Stir frequently to prevent catching, especially towards the end. It is ready when the excess liquid has cooked away but don't let it get dry as the mixture will continue to absorb liquid in the jar. Pot while hot. Leave for two months before opening. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: