Passata By The Truckload.

Passata
As it is Autumn it is bottling season and we get to help the family do a huge batch of passata.

Cut as many really ripe tomatoes as you can fit comfortably in a large pan. This case that has a huge amount given the commercial size of the pans...these guys have all the cooking toys Sandy is in kitchen heaven...the biggest pots, a pasta roller that is so fast you have to seriously watch your fingers, pasta extrudes, mixers for dough ... the list is endless and all gleaming stainless, no expense spared for the kitchen set up here. These guys as well as the agrotourism have a restaurant up the hill at the accommodation and feed up to 60 people Saturday nights and Sunday lunch.

Theresa all four feet of here can hardly reach the top of the several big pots on the stove OH'S Nhoooo just Italian tradition and years of cooking experience that she is so willing to share ono on one with us. The conversation is always in Italian and many hand gestures. But it gets better still she speaks only in a local dialect tongue as she is in her mid 70's so with the help of Bee her granddaughter we are kept in the loop. So all the Italian lesson in the world are not too helpful today but hay who cares. You can pick up so much just by watching but sometimes the spoken word is needed.

So in a pot add olive oil and chopped garlic when coloured add in the cut up tomatoes, some chopped onions QB and cook for 1 hr.
Add in some chopped parsley and continue cooking until the sauce begins to thicken, maybe 2 to 2 & 1/2 hrs add in chopped basil QB and cook for 10 mins and bottle while hot.
This is a staple in Italy and the pantries at this time of the year are starting to refill back up and we were here to experience the vast amount of product that they preserve.

QB :- Remember from last years blogs mean as needed.