Tomato season will soon be over, but there is still time to make a few jars of tomato conserva, a concentrated tomato paste that tastes nothing like canned. Kept in the fridge, it will add the essence of summer to even the darkest days of winter cooking.
The conserva starts with at least five pounds of tomatoes, which are chopped, briefly sauteed, and run through a food mill. The resulting puree is poured into a rimmed sheet pan and baked in a low oven for about seven hours, until it is thick and shiny. Stored in the refrigerator under a layer of olive oil, the conserva lasts for months, flavoring soups, stews and risottos until tomato season returns. It's even good enough to spread on toast!
Get the recipes:
• Capture the Sun at the LA Times: Includes a few recipes for dishes using the conserva.
• Tomato Conserva at The Dinner Files: Basically the same recipe as the LA Times, but with more photos of the process.
• Essence of Tomato â€" ‘Strattu, Estratto, Conserva at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: An even longer-cooked variation of conserva, called 'strattu.
Have you ever made tomato conserva? What's your favorite way to preserve tomatoes?
Related: The Easiest Way to Preserve Tomatoes: Freeze Them!
(Images: The Dinner Files)
You might also like
-
Preserving Without Canning: Tips and Tricks for Summer Produce
-
Bartender Secrets, How To Make Kombucha, Pancake Mix-Ins, Summer Tomato Tips, and Feeding Fussy Eaters
-
Summer Love: The 'Black' Tomato
-
The Best Guacamole, Summer Cakes, Picnic Sandwiches, Fresh Takes on Iced Tea, and Beautiful, Unusual Kitchen Floors
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Bacsac Bacsquare 04...
Apartment Therapy's Sofa Shopping Guide
Nikki’s Sweet and Cheery Print Studio
What a great idea. Up here in the Pacific North West our tomatoes are just starting to come in, one of the bad things about life up here. We use our tomatoes mostly to create Marinara, which we refrigerate or freeze, http://www.twooldcrabs.com/blog/marinara-sauce-18/ this is a link to the recipe we make. Hope you enjoy it
I made this, too, except in a different order. I roasted seeded, tomatoes that were cut in half with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper until almost all the liquid was gone and they'd started to blacken. Then I pureed them with a food blender, then canned them. I salivate every time I think of them. And it's so good on toast.
We have made several batches of this conserva this fall and it's fabulous. It's super easy to make it with our kitchenaid food strainer attachment and it saves so much space over storing the regular sauces. Thank you for sharing this technique!