Kevin Lynch of Closet Cooking inspired this Tomato Jam with his original recipe.
I never followed his recipe, but end up with a coffee-free and much spicier variety, which we find looks and tastes fantastic on bread with a fried egg, as the tomato layer on a pizza, or with egg-rich Pappadalle or Fettuccine. So, here goes one fairly large batch:
Wash and dry 4kg ripe tomatoes, then cut into eights. Place the pieces, skin-down, next to each other on large flat baking trays and slowly dry in the oven at 95 C for 2..3 hours. Stop when they are still slightly moist, but no longer wet. You may need to do this in batches, depending on your oven. I get 2 kg on each tray, but a convection oven takes 2 trays with ease. I open the door every 20 minutes to let the steam out and to wipe off the condensation. You’re trying to evaporate over 3 litres of water, so give your oven a hand.
When dried, let them cool down (and dry out even more).
To make the jam, do this:
Blizz the tomatoes into a puree, skin, seeds and all. This should have a slightly moist yet rich and thick consistency.
Toast one large tablespoon of coriander seeds, one large tablespoon of fennel seeds, 3 dried red chillies, a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds and 4 star anise. Transfer the hot spices to your pestle and mortar or spice grinder.
Add a splash of olive oil to the same pan and crisp 200 g of streaky dry-cured bacon or panchetta.
Meanwhile, grind your spices and enjoy the delicious aroma. Sieve to remove stalks and husk. Add a teaspoon of ground cumin.
Mix the ground spices with the tomatoes, then blizz the bacon into small bits and add to the mix.
Season to taste with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and brown sugar.
Done.
Set some aside for tonight or tomorrow’s lunch.
Fill the rest into preserving jars and preserve in a Baine-Marie at 85 C for 90 minutes.
