Now that wifey has been discovered as a closet Celiac, we have to watch what we eat more carefully; First step, gluten free tomato sauce, as all commercial sauces have gluten in them!
- 2kg Roma tomatoes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 large brown onion, finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 Lemon
- 2 bouquet garni (see note)
If you’re like me, you had no idea what Boquet Garni was, but it turns out they are like tea bags with a specific blend of herbs in them. You’ll find them in the herbs and spices section, they come in little plastic bags, which are next to the jars usually.
Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan, and once hot, add the onion and the garlic; You want to cook these for a bit until the onion softens up, but don’t brown them up too much or your sauce will be a bit on the bitter side.
Prepare the half lemon by picking out the seeds. Try not to lose too much juice, or do it over the pot so the juice goes in. Once you’ve done that, score the lemon rind a bit.
Now chuck in the tomatoes, lemon, boquet garni. Bring the mixture to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about an hour or so; I like to stir the mixture regularly; What you are aiming for is most of the water to evaporate off and leave you with a fairly thick mixture.
Once it’s thick enough, fish out the lemon rind and the boquet garni, and put the mixture in your blender and give it a good puree cycle to get it nice and consistent. When we make it, we get a litre of sauce.