Basic Tomato Sauce

While I find scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest incredibly inspiring, I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel every meal time. In fact, when I was learning how to cook, what gave me the most confidence in the kitchen was mastering a handful of basics. Like my Basic Tomato Sauce recipe. This sauce is a great building block for a variety of dishes whilst also being absolutely delicious simply tossed through a great big bowl of pasta.

I was a late bloomer when it comes to cooking. As a child I had zero interest in food then when I moved out, my idea of home-cooking was (shamefully) heating up 2 minute noodles. I was proudly defiant in my inability to cook.

The thing is, by closing myself off to the kitchen I was missing out on an awesome part of life. I find nourishing my body with simple, healthful, home-cooked food incredibly satisfying. What’s more, I can share it with the people I love > BOOM! extra pleasure for this people pleaser.

Cooking from scratch enables you to control the integrity of your ingredients. Store-bought pasta sauce contains enormous amounts of salt and sugar, not to mention food colouring. Plus, home-cooking is cheaper and yummier. What’s not to love?

My Basic Tomato Sauce is rich, creamy and just slightly tart. It’s a great place to start for a beginner cook. That’s because it’s always awesome with a minimum of fuss. It’s also super versatile. Not only do I make this sauce to have with pasta but it tastes great on pizza, rice, couscous, polenta – you name it. Did I mention it freezes really well too?

Simple, mega yum tomato pasta sauce. You’ll never buy the stuff in a jar again. xx

Serves 4-6

1 x 400g tin tomatoes

3/4 x tomato tin of tap water

1/2 brown onion (diced)

2 x cloves of garlic (smashed and roughly chopped)

a heaped tsp dried oregano

40g salted butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Gently melt the butter in a medium size pot over a low heat. Add a splash of olive oil. This will prevent the butter from burning.
Once the butter is melted, add your diced onion and cook for around 5 minutes or until it’s soft.
Now add your garlic. Stir and gently cook for around 1 minute. Don’t let the garlic go brown.
Tip your tin of tomatoes into the pot with the garlic and the onion and give it a stir.
Grab your empty tomato tin and fill it 3/4 with cold tap water. Now add this to the pot along with the oregano, salt, and pepper. Give it a good stir.
Bring your pot to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook like this for around 25 – 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced by half.
Take the thickened sauce off the heat and let it sit for around a minute or two. Now, with a stick blender, blend the ingredients until the sauce is completely smooth.
Serve with your favorite bowl of pasta and a sprinkling of grated cheese. Enjoy!