What to do with all those Tomatoes!?

If you're lucky enough to be gardening in a temperate part of New Zealand, you will no doubt have a glut of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, eggplants, capsicums and chillies at the end of Summer. In the Bay of Plenty we have had a pretty consistently hot summer but a bit humid at times which has affected stonefruit and the like.

But we have found ourselves putting bag after bag of tomatoes in the freezer to 'do something with' when we 'have some time'. We can't give away any more cucumbers, courgettes and basil so we're having to think of ways to keep or use what we have.

We like these recipes, no fuss, easy and good fun too.

Pasta Sauce / Pizza Sauce

A great way to use up a multitude of vegetables and because it's pureed at the end the kids have no idea how many veges they're eating.

Into a large roasting dish throw halved or quartered tomatoes - a couple of kilos worth.  Two onions quartered, a whole bulb of garlic, peeled, two or three capsicums, seeds removed and cut into pieces, and a pile of basil and oregano (dried is fine if you don't have fresh).  Sprinkle liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper and a tablespoon of sugar.  Mix to coat everything and pop into a 200C oven for about 45 minutes - until everything is getting slightly caramelised around the edges.

Remove from the oven, let cool for 20 minutes then puree until smooth.  Store in the freezer and pop out perfect pasta sauce every time.

Cucumber Refresher

I love this on a super hot day, or when you feel like something 'a bit healthy'.

Remove the seeds from two small or one large cucumber and chop into pieces - if the skin is particularly tough you might want to peel as well but I don't bother.

Add to a blender or Nutribullet along with half a cup of ice, a tablespoon or two of lemon or lime juice as preferred, then top up with cold water.  Blend until smooth and serve over muddled mint or apple mint leaves.  

Chilli Jam

Fabulous with cheese and meat - the heat is tempered by the sugar somewhat.

Carefully de-seed and chop 150gms red chillies (as hot as you like, or not at all), and 150gms red capsicums.  Blitz in a processor until finely chopped.

Dissolve 1kg jam setting sugar into 600mls of cider vinegar over a medium heat without stirring. Add your chillies and capsicums and let boil for 10 minutes.  Leave to cool then pour into sterilised jars.

Basil Pesto

Add two packed cups basil leaves, two peeled garlic cloves, 3/4 cup EV Olive Oil, 1/4 cup grated parmesan or pecorino, 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, and salt and pepper to a food processor and puree until smooth.

Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks, or freeze in ice cube trays to use later.