A Finer Tomata Sauce

Ingredients

• 12 fine red tomatas
• 2–3 eschalots
• 4–5 chilies or capsicum
• lean ham
• 0.5 cup rich gravy
• few spoonsful rich gravy or Espagnole
• salt
• 12 small mushrooms

Instructions

1. Stew the tomatas very gently with the sliced eschalots, chilies or capsicum (or cayenne pepper), a few small dice of lean ham, and half a cupful of rich gravy.
2. Stir these often until the tomatas are reduced quite to a smooth pulp.
3. Rub the stewed tomatas through a sieve.
4. Put the strained sauce into a clean saucepan with a few spoonsful more of rich gravy or Espagnole sauce.
5. Add salt if needed.
6. Boil the sauce, stirring it well, for ten minutes.
7. Serve the sauce very hot.