Tomato and Vegetable Sauce
Aug
LUNCH/DINNER
Tomato and Vegetable Sauce
- 1 onion 1
- 1 stick celery
- 1,5 cloves garlic
- 1 chopped tinned tomatoes can(s)
- 1.5 carrots
- 0.5 courgette
- 1,5 tbsp olive oil
- 1,5 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- ¼ tsp brown sugar
- black pepper a pinch
Tips/Notes
Tips/NotesBASE FOR OTHER RECIPIES
Tomato and Vegetable Soup
Add enough water/vegetable stock to turn the thick jammy sauce into a soup.
To add protein to the soup and turn it into a complete meal, you could add a can of drain cooked adzuki or kidney beans before blending or to the chunky sauce and serve with bread drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.
Minestrone
To turn the sauce into a minestrone-type soup, add a can of mixed cooked beans and a handful of cooked wholemeal small pasta shapes and serve sprinkled with grated parmesan or any other hard cheese
Shepherds or cottage pie
Add browned mince meat (either lamb or beef)and beef stock to the thick tomato and vegetable sauce and top with mashed root vegetables and cheese to turn it into a shepherds or cottage pie.
Vegetarian cottage pie
Add cooked lentils to the thick tomato sauce – I like using a mix of green and puy lentils – and vegetable stock to the thick tomato and vegetable sauce and top with mashed root vegetables and cheese.
METHOD
1. Chop the onions and celery very finely and crush and mince the garlic as fine as you can. Alternatively, you can simply chop them all in the food processor.
2. Gently heat up the oil in a saucepan, when hot but not smoky add the chopped onion, garlic and celery. Cook at low heat for approx. 10 minutes until soft but not brown. While the onion mix is cooking, scrub well and chop the carrots and courgettes – in medium chunks if blending the sauce later or pretty little cubes if you are leaving them whole after cooking.
3. When the onion is soft, add the carrot and courgette to the mix and fry for another 3 minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes, sugar, balsamic, tomato puree and a couple of grindings of the pepper mill.
4. Lower the heat and cook for 45minutes to 1 hour, checking and stirring a couple of times as the sauce thickens and becomes the consistency of jam. If the sauce is getting too thick and catching at the bottom, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
5. You can then put it through the blender until smooth (great in pizza) or leave it chunky, or divide it in two and have both textures in the freezer.
6. This sauce and its variations freeze very well. I use deep silicone muffin tins for adult portions, normal size ones for toddlers and mini muffin tins for babies. Then transfer them to plastic bags once frozen solid to avoid freezer burn.
VARIANTS
Tomato and herb sauce – add a good handful of herbs just before blending the sauce if you prefer a smooth consistency or add them finely chopped to the blended or chunky sauce.
Creamy tomato and veg sauce – Blend the sauce until smooth and then add 200ml mascarpone for a creamy tomato sauce. It also works well with cream cheese or a dollop of cream.
with aubergine – Add some cubed aubergine instead of the courgette.
with bacon – Fry some cubed bacon in the hot oil until crispy before you add the onions. Remove and reserve if you are going to blend the soup or simply add the onion mix to it and continue with the recipe for the chunky version.