Pomodoro sauce

Makes about 1 litre

This is the kind of pasta sauce made by Italians at the end of the summer tomato harvest to store in the larder for the cold winter months. Recipes vary from household to household and some may contain lots of garlic and herbs while others will be blended like the passata you buy in supermarkets. You only have to look at all those different tins of tomatoes with various herbs, such as basil and oregano, for an idea of what happens to the glut of plum tomatoes in Italy. I'd recommend blanching the tomatoes before cooking - otherwise you end up with lots of chewy bits of skin in your sauce.

6 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
150ml olive oil
1tbsp oregano leaves
3kg good flavoured tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Gently heat the garlic and oregano in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes until soft, without colouring. Add the tomatoes, bring to the boil, season and simmer gently for 40 minutes. Freeze the sauce in useable quantities, or, while it's hot, fill sterilised Kilner-type jars. To seal the jars for storage plunge them into a pan of boiling water, bring the water to the boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Leave the jars to cool in the water.