Are you feeling strained?  No?  Well my tomatoes are!  Wait…don’t leave!  Ok, no more tomato puns I promise but I can’t hold back on the many tomato pictures I’m afraid.   After years of dreaming, lusting and coveting, my Roma hand crank strainer is finally here.  I wrestled only briefly with the assembly instructions before whizzing into action, processing a couple of kilos of freshly picked (child labour) tomatoes.

The days (and weeks) of aching arm, wrist and elbow are over, I have entered the hand crank revolution and it is beautiful.  My Roma Sauce Maker and Strainer makes light work of pound after pound of plump, freshly roasted, garden fresh tomatoes.  The cooked tomatoes (or indeed apples) go in, perfectly sieved sauce comes out, leaving behind immaculately crushed skins, cores and seeds.  According to this lady even they can be put to good use, I’ll get back to you on that one.

My magical hand crank machine is so easy that even the children could happily indulge allowing me to label my food ‘child powered’ as well as organic.

The first batch was done by me just to check it was working (no the children didn’t believe me either) but then I bowed to public pressure and let the boys take over while I turned the first batch into their dinner.  A simple tomato sauce with just a few herbs and seasoning over a bowl of pasta, delicious.

A fresh baked bread roll on the side made this about as wholesome a meal as I can think of and the boys thoroughly approved.  Now I am armed with my fabulous sauce making machine the field of rapidly ripening tomatoes no longer fills me with fear; me and my smooth, hand crank technology will defeat the red terror and then we will…you know…can it and stuff.

Vive la happy elbows!