At this time of year I always have too many tomatoes, and there are some that are getting to be a little over ripe, or that have spots on them. So, it's nice to think about things that you can use these lower quality tomatoes for - and barbeque sauce is a good one. Making your own is easy and rewarding - you can get a far more flavorful and interesting product than in one of those plastic squeezy bottles! This recipe relies less on sugar for flavor than many; if you prefer a very sweet barbeque sauce you can alway add some brown sugar to this.
I start by peeling and seeding the tomatoes, which is a bit of a pain, but it's kind of fun to slip the skins off, so I try to remember that! Boil water in a sauce pan, deep enough to cover your largest tomato. Stick a fork in the top of the tomato and plunge it into the boiling water for a couple of minutes. You'll see a split in the skin usually, this means that you can peel it off. Remove from the boiling water and do so - a paring knife is handy to spped things up. Here is a how to video if you need to get some extra information.
Fresh Tomato Barbeque Sauce
6-8 medium to large tomatoes
1/4 cup good quality orange marmelade
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 heaping TB cocoa powder
2 Tsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 TB olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 tsp fresh ground cumin
2 garlic cloves
1 ancho chile diced (or use a couple of serrano or chile peppers)
1/4 cup tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
Peel and seed the tomatoes, chop coarsely and set aside in a bowl. In a largish sauce pan saute the peppers, onion, garlic and cumin for a few minutes over medium heat until the onion starts to soften. Add the tomatoes, and cook for a few minutes - until they soften and start to break down. Use a potato masher or a large fork to mash them up a bit. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Taste, and add salt and pepper as you prefer. Sometimes the sauce is too thick; you can add some water or if you are feeling motivated, put the seeds and skins from peeling the tomatoes in a seive and add this juice. If you are so inclined, you can also add a little bourbon to this and cook it down. This is great on chicken, pulled pork, ribs, etc. Put it in a jar and refrigerate it until you want to use it. Or, put it in a heavy storage baggie and freeze. Enjoy those fresh tomatoes any time! DeeDee