Hello Steemers!
For the last 24 of my life it has been all about ketchup! The tomatoes in the garden have been getting on really well and growing a healthy amount of fruit. Not only that, a friend recently brought me a huge bag full of tomatoes from his garden. With all these tomatoes on my hands I thought I would have a go at making my own ketchup, and I am glad I did.
I am really excited about this recipe - it was a first time success which isn't always the case when trying something out for the first time. I took some photos as I went along to make a post if it turned out tasty - it has exceeded my expectations 100%. This beats any shop bought ketchup I've ever had. I'm glad I followed my intuition in the kitchen, it really paid off!
GARDENINGCHEF'S ROASTED GARLIC KETCHUP
Ingredients
2.120KG of tomatoes - cored & diced
Whole head of garlic - roasted
One large onion
60ml of apple cider vinegar
2x tbsp of honey
A pinch of cayenne pepper
Ground pepper & salt to taste
-Yields 500 ml of ketchup-
Method
First off I preheated the oven and prepared the garlic head, chopping the ends off and drizzling with olive oil and a pinch of salt before tightly wrapping with baking paper and cling film. I roasted the garlic in the oven on gas mark 4 for 40 minutes.
To start the ketchup base I cooked the onion in a large pot until translucent and lightly caramelised, then added the diced and deseeded tomatoes. I left the seeds in the small cherry tomatoes from my poly but did remove the seeds from the larger tomatoes as I didn't want it to be too watery.
The onion and tomatoes cooked on a low heat for 30 minutes. I mashed the mix in the pot with a potato masher and then added in the roasted garlic once it was ready. I blitzed that in the food processor until desired consistency and then put back into the pot, adding in the rest of the ingredients.
After that it was smooth sailing - I simmered it for a total of 7 hours on the lowest heat possible (stirring frequently) until the sauce reduced, becoming a perfectly thick tomato ketchup. I blitzed it another time in the food processor and viola - delicious ketchup was created!
It's the best ketchup I've ever tasted and it was so easy to make, I am beyond chuffed and impressed that something I came up with tastes this good.
If you try my recipe out do let me know - I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!! I hope you liked this post, I will hopefully be sharing more cooking if the summer heat allows. I just about managed the ketchup as I could leave the kitchen in between stirring!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the week!
Gardeningchef
