Well it's convenience food once you've put in the time to grow, harvest, cook and store it. But for me it's worth it. This is healing food for me and our planet. As I've said before food grown in a regenerative way has increased nutrient density and it has given back to the world we live in instead of extracting as the industrial food system does.
So I've made some pasta sauce using my tomatoes, green peppers, chillies and garlic and a few other ingredients that are sourced at the store. I usually roast my tomatoes for a short period which makes removing the skins really easy ( notice I don't say quick and easy!!). This sauce boils down for a few hours to allow the flavours to really develop and the sauce thickens. Great to have this one in the cupboard for future pasta dishes.
Another important ingredient that I like to have in the pantry is tomato paste. Using my thermomix it is really easy to turn 2 kilos of little sweet tomatoes into a thick delicious paste that down the track will add a beautiful burst of summer to any dish I add it to. It does take a couple of hours to really thicken up nicely but with about 2 mins of hands on time, it's my go to recipe for moving this produce into storage.
Now this next convenience food is a spread you can use on your bruschetta or toasted GF sourdough! It's like you've gathered up everything growing in your summer garden and put it all into one tasty treat. Eggplant, green tomatoes, dried tomatoes, zucchini, red peppers, chillies are all preserved with salt and vinegar and then whizzed up along with a little olive oil, garlic and oregano, into a coarse paste. It will keep for sometime in the pantry as long as it is submerged in plenty of olive oil. You only need a little bit as it's pretty hot, but it really does jazz up a piece of toast!!