I just got this awesome recipe from Tami at Peas of Mind, a company that makes healthy frozen vegetable fries, among other things.

When I was growing up, it was a big joke that ketchup was considered a vegetable by the Reagan administration. However, this ketchup recipe is indeed made up of vegetables, along with seasonings. My kids go through a ton of it, which makes me feel better about forgetting to stick something green on their plates now and then.

Rustic Homemade Ketchup

½ a large onion, red or white, diced, about 1 cup

1 teaspoons olive oil

½ teaspoons salt

2 lbs tomatoes, preferably Roma, chopped (about 5.5 cups), 10-12 count

Small pinch of ground cloves

Pinch of black pepper

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 teaspoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

In a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the onion with the oil and ¼ teaspoon of the salt until the onion becomes soft, translucent and is just starting to brown, 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cloves, black pepper and remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to high, cover and bring to a boil.

Once it’s boiling, remove the lid and boil the mixture on medium-high for 12-15 minutes, stirring about once per minute to avoid scorching. The mixture should have lost a good bit of moisture and become sticky on the surface of the pan. If not, continue cooking.

When the liquid has reduced and the mixture is sticky, turn off the heat. Add the tomato paste, brown sugar and vinegar and stir thoroughly to combine. If using whole cloves, fish them out.

Puree in a food processor or blender for at least 2 minutes and you have ketchup!

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to seven days or freeze.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under greener pastures, the flavor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.