Three years ago I was the proud owner of a tomato plantation. It was the 1st and only time I took over the family garden entirely (something that most probably won’t happen again) when, after a very successful seeding, I converted the entire garden into a big tomato scene . I drove everyone mad with those tomatoes (nope, no such tomato lovers at my house), but I enjoyed every moment of taking care of my “babies”. It’s just impossible for me to explain how much I learned that year in the garden.

Since then, I’ve been of opinion that one can learn about life much better in the garden -or generally speaking, in nature- than at school – solely by observing the plants and the animals. I knew nothing about growing tomatoes prior to that year and learned all about them by paying attention to the plants from the very day I’d placed their seeds (of Spanish – Riojan origins) in the soil. I truly cherish those moments spent in the garden, and the numerous photos remind me of the amount of huge, juicy tomatoes we had that summer. There was no way we’d have been capable of eating all of them right away, so I turned them into tomato preserve/sauce, using a recipe of Juanpi’s mother. I had written about it once already, but that was like a long time ago and I have, naturally, adapted the recipe ever since, so I’m sharing it with you again – my newest version. I hope you like it!

TOMATE FRITO* FROM SCRATCH
* Tomate frito (lit. fried tomato) is the Spanish word for a good tomato sauce.

The ingredients you’ll need:
beautiful tomatoes, more on the ripe side than not
red onion
garlic cloves
red chile pepper (check their sharpness prior to using!)
green bell pepper
basil and oregano leaves
sea salt
cane sugar (the quantity depends on the sourness of your tomatoes – you may not need to add any at all)
freshly ground pepper (or pepper mix)
freshly grated nutmeg
sweet paprika powder
good quality olive oil

clean, sterilized jars with lids

And the preparation goes like this:
1. First, chop all the vegetable ingredients (previously washed and dried).
2. Then heat a generous quantity of olive oil in a bigger skillet/frying pan and gently fry the onion and green pepper until it becomes translucent. Add garlic and chile, followed by tomatoes, basil and oregano, salt, nutmeg and sweet paprika.
3. Covered with a lid and giving it an occasional stir, let the tomato saute until most of the liquid has evaporated. It’s essential to taste the sauce and -if needed- stir in some sugar. Freshly ground pepper should be added at the very end.
4. Have the jars prepared: pour the hot sauce in the hot jars (I keep them in the oven at 70ºC until using), you can also add a couple of fresh basil leaves if you like. Drizzle the top with a little olive oil, cover with the lid and screw tightly. Pasteurize them in the oven for some minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the jars inside until cool (overnight, for example).
5. Tomate frito should be stored in a cool, dark place, or even better, in the fridge.

And my favorite way of using tomate frito? On pasta, of course! Top it with some grated parmesan and you could hardly wish for more.