Tomato Sauce

This can be used for all kinds of things: serve with pasta, use as a base for home-made pizza, serve with polenta, even rice. It’s tasty.

Makes: 2 portions (if used as pasta sauce). Prep: 10 mins. Cooking time: 30 mins.
Stores: In the fridge for 3-4 days, in the freezer for 3 months.

Tools

• Tin opener
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Pot or frying pan
• Wooden spoon

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1-3 cloves of garlic (optional)
• 1-4 table spoons tomato paste (optional)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil in the pot or pan.
2. Soften the onion and the garlic in the oil.
3. Add the tomato and, if using, the tomato paste.
4. Cook at moderate heat for 20-40 minutes.

The longer you cook it, the thicker the sauce will be, the flavour more concentrated. Sometimes, you want a quick meal with a fresh, uncooked flavour, sometimes, for using as for pizza, or dipping sauce, for example, thick and concentrated is the way to go.

Variations

This sauce can be varied endlessly. Some of my favourite variations are:

• Add some tang: Add a couple of table spoons of capers or chopped green olives. Great with pasta.
• Make it herby: Add a sprinkling of Mediterranean herbs and serve with basil leaves on top. Also great with pasta, and a great base for a veggie stew.
• Make Arrabiata: Add half a finely chopped chilli – or as much chilli as you want. That’s it. you’ve made arrabiata.
• Smooth: Blitz with a stick blender until really, really smooth. Use as a dip, or as the tomato sauce on pizza.