At least once a week we have a tomato sauce based dinner. Little one LOVES tomato based dinners with pasta, rice, potatoes, cauliflower rice… pretty much any carbohydrate, which is handy as her daddy and I enjoy these dinners as well. Veggie packed spaghetti bolognese, meatballs, tomato pasta dishes, baked cod in tomato sauce and chilli con carne are among our favourites. It is also a great base to hide lots of vegetables in! One of the best things about this sauce is that you can add any herbs or spices that you wish to change the whole flavour of the meal. This recipe is going to be used in a vegetable tart dish later this week.
Ingredients for basic sauce
A couple of tbsp of olive oil
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 x 100 g cans of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Extras- I usually add red or yellow peppers to my basic sauce and any vegetables that I have in the fridge.
Method
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a moderate heat.
2. Add the vegetables and cook gently until the onion has softened. This can take some time, about 10 – 15 minutes, but it’s worth waiting for the onions to cook properly.
3. Stir in the sugar and add the tomatoes. I also half fill one can of the tomatoes up with water and add that to the pan.
4. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes. The sauce should reduce by half and become thick.
5. Make sure you stir it occasionally so that the sauce doesn’t catch. Add a splash of water if it reduces too much for your liking.
6. You can freeze portions of your sauce for convenient dinners later on.
Important Bits
Dairy, egg, gluten and nut free
Freezable
Total make time less than an hour
[…] easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time or frozen for a later meal. I served mine with my Versatile Tomato Sauce which I made whilst chilling the meatballs, however any tomato pasta sauce would work […]