How to make Italian passata step by step, just like the nonnas do

Everyone knows the image, and if not, you can easily picture it: little Italian nonnas stirring in their retro kitchens, standing over a pan of passata. That Italian nonna is inside you too. Awaken her and prepare real classic passata à la nonna in just four steps.

Passata is a smooth, strained tomato sauce that forms the basis of countless Italian dishes. It is actually an incredibly simple dish with few ingredients. What do you absolutely need? Tomatoes, of course. The better the quality of your tomatoes, the tastier your passata will ultimately be.

Making passata

So your first task when making passata like an Italian nonna is: buy the very best tomatoes. You can hardly go wrong with ripe Roma or San Marzano tomatoes (without bruises or brown spots).

Step 1: clean

First, wash your tomatoes well under cold running water. Then remove the stems and any leaves: you do not need them in your passata. The same goes for the tomato skins. Remove those too. The easiest way is to halve the tomatoes and then carefully pull off the skin. Also remove the seeds from the tomatoes.

Step 2: blanch

Now you are going to blanch the tomatoes. Place them in a large stainless-steel pan with water and bring to the boil. Let the tomatoes simmer for two to three minutes, remove them and place them in a bowl of cold water. If you want to stop the cooking process more quickly, you can add ice cubes, but this is not strictly necessary.

If there are still extra skins on the tomatoes that you could not remove earlier, now is the time to take them off. The skins are softer at this point, so they will come away more easily.

Step 3: cook

Place the tomatoes in a pan with water again. Bring it to the boil and then cook the tomatoes for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let both the tomatoes and the water cool completely.

Step 4: purée

Now it will really become passata. Place the cooled tomatoes in a blender or food processor and purée them. You can decide the consistency of the passata yourself. You can of course purée it until completely smooth; simply let your blender or food processor do the work. Prefer a coarser, ‘rustic’ passata? Then crush the tomatoes with your hands. Easy to do, and fun too.

Store your passata in an airtight jar. You can also freeze it, as we showed you with this tip for freezing sofrito. That way, you will always have your own passata à la nonna on hand.

Also read:

• How to give canned tomatoes extra flavour
• Well, that’s handy: you’ll want to know this tip for your can of tomato paste
• Essential Italian kitchenware found in every kitchen

Source: Fine Dining Lovers