Homemade Ketchup

Making your own ketchup is a lot of fun and so easy to do. You can make it to your own taste and match it to the dish you’re serving.

Ingredients:

• 6 roma or san marzano tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Basil
• 2 table spoons of sugar
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil

Preparation Method:

Preheat the oven at 120ºC. Quarter the tomatoes and spread evenly on a backing sheet. Crush the 4 cloves of garlic with the side of your knife. Don’t bother to peel the garlic as it will be discarded later. Add the crushed garlic to the tomatoes. Season with pepper and salt and sprinkle over 2 table spoons of sugar. Add a couple of sprigs of thyme and rosemary, and about 10 leaves of basil. Sprinkle over a little olive oil.

Put the tomatoes in the preheated oven for 60 to 90 minutes, until the tomatoes are semi dried out. After you take the tomatoes out of the oven, remove the skins, blend to a puree then pass through a strainer to remove the pips. Check the seasoning: the ketchup should be slightly sweet. Add sugar if needed. Refrigerate before serving.

You can easily spice up your ketchup with Tabasco sauce if you like it spicy or a bit of red wine vinegar if you like it tangy. I like mine sweet and peppery but with a clear taste of tomatoes, so I only add freshly cracked black pepper.

The longer you leave the tomatoes in the oven, the more they will dry out. Drying out the tomatoes will intensify their flavor and will get you a more concentrated ketchup.