Passata

It is the end of summer and our local green grocer - who sources fresh, organic regional produce - is now selling bags of locally grown deep red cooking tomatoes for $1/kg.
As wine producers who specialise Sangiovese, a variety that hails from one of the greatest food-loving regions on earth, it follows that food would be almost as important to us as wine. We tend to eat a lot of tomato based pastas, casseroles and big meaty stews - especially in the cooler months. Soul food!
At the end of summer I usually spend a few days in the kitchen taking advantage of the end of season glut of tomatoes and basil. I make bulk lots of passata - a basic Italian tomato sauce used either straight over good pasta, in pappa al pomodoro (a divine rustic bread and tomato soup), or as a base in stews and casseroles.  I also make bulk pesto sauce (basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil) - by not adding the parmesan I can freeze it in plastic zip-lock bags.
Following is an incredibly simple recipe for passata. As I am hopeless at preserving things properly, I find it is much easier to simply freeze containers of passata (I freeze it in quantities of about a cup) and pull them out of the freezer as I need them.

2.5kg tomotoes, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
a large slosh of good olive oil

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cook, stiring to make sure it doesn't catch, for about an hour. The longer you cook it, the more concentrated your passata will be. Experiment to suit your own taste.

After about an hour, push the passata through a mouli to get rid of the tough pieces of skin. I don't have a mouli so I use a colander and push the passata through with the back of a large ladel. Let it all cool, divide into conatiners and freeze. If you are good at preserving, add one fresh basil leaf to the top of each bottle before sealing - it makes a real difference!

Many passata recipies call for the tomato to be cored and seeded before cooking. I find this ridiculously fiddley, so I just don't bother!