Marrying into an Italian family I pretty much should own stock in tomato paste. Not only is it used in pretty much every pasta dish I make but it’s also amazing in beef dishes, pizza sauce or as a great rich flavor to dishes. The problem is most recipes only call for a tablespoon or 3 of it and then you’re left with the rest of the can. Now sure you can scoop it out and store it in the fridge only to watch it end up at the back shelf to die…alone. Yeah admit it, you’ve done that. Lord knows I have. Well enough of that! On today’s Tuesday’s Tip with The Kitchen Whisperer I’m going to share with you my tip for Storing Leftover Tomato Paste.
Now unless you’re making sauce or the like in bulk you almost never will use a full can of tomato paste (not the larger ones at least) all in a single recipe. If you do then definitely share what you’re making as this is new to me. Anyway, most of you are left with stuff in the can. DO NOT THROW IT OUT! Please… don’t. Instead do what I do… Freeze it! Seriously, freeze it!
All I do is line a sheet pan with parchment paper, spoon out tablespoon size dollops of the paste and place them on to the pan. Next I flash freeze them which means I put them into the freezer, uncovered until they are rock solid (a few hours). Once they are solid I remove the pan from the freezer, place the lumps of tomato paste into a freezer safe container and leave them in the freezer. For me they last several months. To use in my sauce all I do is grab a few frozen lumps, toss them in the pan and VOILA! Perfect tomato paste without having to fret over only using part of a can.
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