It’s early summer, and I’m anticipating warmer days ahead. I’m getting excited for the summer foods I love to eat, and none more so than a sweet, ripe tomato. So at the grocery store, I put a few in my cart. I know it’s May, but it looks red, okay?
But when I cut into one at home, it’s garbage. Pale inside and still hard. Ugh. So what to do with these early summer tomatoes I bought? Obviously, the only thing to do is to cook these unripe tomatoes to make them sweeter and intensify their flavor. But with only a handful, I’ll need to add another veg for bulk. I’ve always got tons of carrots, so that’s a good candidate. I know tomato jam is a thing, and I’ve seen carrot jam on Chopped before. Let’s do this.
This is a really easy cook. Originally I only intended to use it as pizza sauce, and it was delicious! It’s also great as a burger topping, sandwich spread, and as part of a charcuterie board. But you really unlock its super powers when you add a little sour cream and use it as a pasta sauce.
The Recipe
2 large tomatoes, cored
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
Half a small yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of granulated sugar
Blend all the vegetables together until smooth.
Pour blended vegetables into a medium saucepan, and turn heat to medium high.
Keep at a rolling boil for 30 minutes, or until reduced by half. I turned the heat to medium after it reached a boil.
Let cool. Check seasoning and add salt if needed. Mine needed an extra pinch.
Notes & Substitutions
You‘ll need a good blender for this one, or you should expect a chunkier texture. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I haven’t tried it.
Maybe it sounds like a lot of sugar, but it’s just right. You could probably swap in a tablespoon of honey, if you prefer something less “processed.” But this way it’s vegan!
These ingredients are probably in your fridge right now. What do you need to substitute???
The sweetness of this makes it a perfect match for bacon. It was an amazing sauce for our bacon and zucchini pizza. We also put it on an eggplant and bacon grilled cheese. It was even better when my husband added chili flake and sour cream to it, and used it as a quick pasta sauce. We loved it so much that we made the jam again just to recreate that sauce.