Recipe for Fresh Tomato Sauce

Peel the onions and slice them, peel the garlic cloves. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into pieces. Place them in a dish to let them lose some of their water.

Wash the bell pepper, remove the stem, cut it open, and remove the seeds and white membranes. Cut it into strips. Cut and seed the chili pepper. Peel the piece of ginger and cut it into strips.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Sauté the onion slices for a few minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, bell pepper, chili, ginger, bay leaves, basil, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove the bay leaf and thyme, and pass the mixture through a food mill or simply blend it with an immersion blender (which is what I did). If the sauce is too thin, return it to the pot and reduce it over low heat.

Put into sterilized bottles or jars (boil them in water and then let them dry in the oven at 120°C for 10 minutes). You can add a few leaves of washed and dried fresh basil before sealing them. Place a cloth at the bottom of a large pot, put the jars and/or bottles in, and wedge one or more cloths between them to prevent them from clinking together. Cover with water and bring to a boil for 35 minutes (adding hot water if necessary). Let cool in the pot before removing the jars.

Store in a dry place away from light for a maximum of 1 year. Freezing: cool the sauce and then pour it into containers, keeping it in the freezer for a maximum of two months. It can be used both hot and cold: hot to start a meat sauce or to top homemade pizzas, for example, or cold to accompany a pâté.

To finish, Enjoy your meal!