Tomatensauce

Ingredients

• 250 g celery
• 2 carrots (about 250 g)
• 2 large onions
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 2 red chili peppers
• 10 sprigs thyme
• 0.5 bunch Parsley
• 1 kg ripe tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 5 allspice berries
• 2 cloves cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. 1.

   Peel and dice the celery; peel, clean, and slice the carrots into thin rounds. Peel and finely dice the onions and garlic. Wash the chili peppers, halve them lengthwise, remove seeds, and chop. Rinse thyme and parsley, shake dry, pluck leaves from stems, and finely chop. Quarter the tomatoes. Heat olive oil in a wide pot. Sauté celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and chili over low heat for 3 minutes. Add tomato quarters, thyme, parsley, peppercorns, allspice berries, cloves, and bay leaf; season with salt and bring slowly to a simmer. Cover and cook on low heat for 1 hour, then remove the bay leaf.

2. 2.

   Pass the vegetable mixture through a sieve or a food mill (Flotte Lotte), reheat, and continue cooking uncovered for another 30 minutes until the mass is thickened. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. 3.

   For preservation, rinse jars hot, fill them with tomato sauce, seal, and sterilize: preheat the oven to 220°C. Fill a fat pan with water and place the jars in it. Sterilize the tomato sauce in the oven (second rack) for 40 minutes. The process starts when bubbles first appear.