The CookingBites recipe challenge: tinned/canned tomatoes

TastyReuben said:
badjak - I’ll assume I know the answer already, but any chance they sell those boxes/tetrapaks of tomato products?
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Yep, but they were out of tomato juice, even though I bought the vodka for bloody mary's.
Don't worry, I got some tomato paste and I may cheat a bit and use fresh tomatoes where I know canned would work.
But I will mention it and not mark it with the challenge prefix (or just add a tsp tomato paste :) )
It's a principal thing more than anything. That little can is actually below U$ 2.00
But heck, I rather have 3 kg unadulterated tomatoes
 
badjak said:
Yep, but they were out of tomato juice, even though I bought the vodka for bloody mary's.
Don't worry, I got some tomato paste and I may cheat a bit and use fresh tomatoes where I know canned would work.
But I will mention it and not mark it with the challenge prefix (or just add a tsp tomato paste :) )
It's a principal thing more than anything. That little can is actually below U$ 2.00
But heck, I rather have 3 kg unadulterated tomatoes
Click to expand...
You get some tomato paste in there, I’ll count it! :okay:
 
badjak said:
Yep, but they were out of tomato juice, even though I bought the vodka for bloody mary's.
Don't worry, I got some tomato paste and I may cheat a bit and use fresh tomatoes where I know canned would work.
But I will mention it and not mark it with the challenge prefix (or just add a tsp tomato paste :) )
It's a principal thing more than anything. That little can is actually below U$ 2.00
But heck, I rather have 3 kg unadulterated tomatoes
Click to expand...
I was staying at a lovely island hotel once and requested a Bloody Mary. They had no tomato juice so made some. Blimey they did a good job, I’ll never forget that Bloody Mary ❤️

I tried myself some years later. Couldn’t get even close to it, lord knows what they did!
 
OK, so I've got about 100 uses for tinned tomatoes/tomato paste/sundried tomatoes, because my wife has an Italian background and could quite happily eat pasta every day of the week. I suppose I could too.
This recipe developed from fried and breaded aubergines/eggplants with a classic Italian tomato sauce. Then I thought, ok, but I'd like a bit more acidity and sweetness in the sauce, so that's where the balsamic and sundried tomatoes came in. You can adjust the flavour to your taste.
As for the texture; you can either blend it to a smooth sauce, or leave the vegetables in pieces. It's entirely up to you.
I mostly make it as a sauce for pasta or for breaded, fried aubergine/eggplant "sandwiches" with a slice of fresh mozzarella in the middle. It would work well with chicken; in a lasagna; with a robust flavoured fish; or even on a pizza.
Sundried tomato & balsamic sauce
My choice yesterday was farfalle (butterfly) pasta. I added a few chopped olives and a tbsp of capers, just because.
Balsamic tomato sauce 2.jpg
 
Buffalo burrata bocconcino (the mozzarella that changed my opinion on mozzarella for the better) with basil, tomato, balsamic vinegar with tomato n basil pearls. The pearls are homemade the challenge non-entry part 😊

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They are a very pleasant surprise. The burst of flavour they add took these tomatoes which are out of season from meh to tasting like they are tomatoes grown in the sunshine. I found I accidentally ate quite a few (understatement) 😂
They’re easy to make providing you take a bit of care over getting the intensity of flavour right but I think for most on here it would be no problem. Just a bit of the usual taste and adjust.

Originally I looked up how to do this to make blueberry pearls to top panna cotta but thought it would be good for the challenge as it’s taking a humble tin of tomatoes and making them special, the star of the show!

I’ll put some pics of the process below. No definitive recipe for you because it was my first time doing it and it’s pretty simple.
 
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