Multi tasking or the story of tomatoes and passionfruit

Strange combination really or is it? I have made tomato and passsionfruit jam but today it is 2 stories made at the same time.

I have no idea why I decided that I could make Tomato Passata and Passionfruit Curd in one go plus organise lunch but there you go - I am nothing if not time efficient.

The passata is again because of my tomatoes and not wanting to waste them.

Really, making passata isn't a recipe per se rather 3 simple ingredients and time.

Lets start with that....courtesy of Gourmet Traveler

Tomato Passata

1kg of tomatoes (I used cherry ones but you could use Roma)
1 small onion very finely chopped
2 tablespoons of oil

Place the tomatoes into a pan.

(There is a rouge large tomato in there from my garden too) and place on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Using a food mill (which is one of the few gadgets I don't have!) or in my case a fine sieve.

Squish the tomatoes through until all you have left are the seeds and skins.


And in a pan tomato juice!

Meanwhile, finely chop the onion.


And place into another pan with the olive oil.

And cook for 5 minutes or until translucent but not brown.


Add the tomato juice and simmer for 30 minutes or more until thick and rich.

Season to taste and allow to cool. Then it is up to you what you do. It will store in the fridge for a week or do what I did and place in ice cube trays that conveniently take 1 tablespoon in each one, freeze and that will last for 3 months!



So now to the passionfruit curd. My brother in law gave me some wonder ful passion fruit.

What else would you make with it? I wanted a recipe that was easy and "quick" (there's a lesson here). I found one on the net from the ABC - It is Jill's Passionfruit Butter (award winning I might add) and the reason I choose it is that it uses whole eggs - yes whole eggs. Not just the yolks. And the reason for that is that I had a lot of passionfruit so in my case I made 3 times the amount stated in the recipe or 12 eggs (now take my advice and don't triple a recipe even though it worked). There is a high degree of risk that this could have ended in tears it didn't but it could have.


Jill's Passionfruit Butter

3/4 cup liquid (1/2 cup passionfruit plus 1/4 cup lemon juice)
3/4 cup sugar
125g butter
4 eggs

According to Jill you can also make lemon butter this way by using 1/2 cup lemon juice and a 1/4 cup of water - but I digress.




Add ingredients into a bowl (in my case a very large bowl)



and cook in bowl that sits over simmering water and cook until thick enough to coat back of a wooden spoon. Use a wire whisk to continually stir during cooking.



So here it is after 5 minutes.

And after 10 minutes it looked like this...


After 20 minutes (yes do remember I did triple the recipe!) it looked like this!


And after 40 minutes of continuous whisking success!


I do believe you would say that is coating the back of a spoon.

Place into sterilised jars.


And lick the bowl, spoon and anything else you can find of this glorious treat. No wonder it was an award winner.

So there you have it, 2 things, both tasty, both home grown and worth the time. Enjoy!

This passata and curd has now been submitted to Grown Your Own an initiative to celebrate seasonal items!