Easy Budget Tomato Sauce
Over a year ago
5,539 views
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil. to fry
- 2 medium onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- To taste salt and freshly ground black pepper
- handful fresh herbs of your choice (optional)
Accompaniment
SponsoredLouis Jadot Macon Blanc - Featured BBC 2 What to eat now
Minerally, unoaked with lemon and apple fruit character, delicate and well balanced. Founded in 1859 this label has become the reliable stamp of quality and consistency. The Maconnais is located in the Southern part of Burgundy, close to the famous Cote d'Or a region ideal for growing Chardonnay. Buy this wine if you like: Chardonnay with mineral freshness and delicate friut.
Description
Me, when I first made it, at about 9 years old... it's been well modified from my mum's method.
Method
-
1
Dice onion finely and place a large frying pan that has a lid (you'll need it later) on the stove on a low/med heat. Add oil, veg ok but olive oil's better... it's still cheaper than a jar of tomato sauce!!! Add onion to oil and stir, lots, then season. If the onion starts to colour, turn it down. We want the onion translucent (see-through).
Chop garlic or break a bit off if you've chopped&frozen it in bulk (see my other recipe for Cheats' Garlic) and add to onions once see-through. Once garlic's incorporated add tomatoes and purée straight away, garlic burns so easily.
Stir well, heat to boil then turn to lowest setting, put on your lid and leave it for 10 mins, stirring occasionally to incorporate the scrummy concentrated tomato around the edges. It's done when the oil starts to separate and it's starting to reduce as the water goes as steam.
Chop herbs if using and add.
Done.
Chef's Tips
This sauce is cheaper than Dolmio and Ragu and in my opinion so much nicer. If you've got a kid going to uni and you only teach them one dish, show them this and it's the base of so many meals from jambalaya to cooked chicken and mash to good old spag bol, lasagne and chilli.
To chop an onion 1st get rid of any of the excess papery layers so you only have one left. Slice off the growing end (the one opposite the roots). Place flat edge down on the board so the roots are sticking up in the air then slice down the middle. Take one half and peel back the papery layer and any bad looking onion layers (you can use onions well after their bbe date but get rid of the green stalk in the centre). Lay down flat and make slices from root to cut-top all the way over the onion, notice how the whole thing stays in one piece as you do it... if you want half-rings just leave out that stage. Now slice the other way and you have perfectly diced onion, easy to get fine.
If you're doing this for someone who doesn't like tomato pieces, which is fairly common, use passata instead of tins of tomatoes. It's located by the tins of toms in the supermarkets and comes in a carton like orange juice, usually works out to about 40p a carton, about the same price by volume as the tins :)
This makes loads and I use half in one recipe and freeze the other half in an empty chinese container.
I call this sauce stage 1. For stage 2, spag bol, just add some fried beef mince and an oxo, serve with pasta. Stage 3, chilli con carne, then add chilli powder, cumin powder, serve with rice. Stage 5, burritos, then add cheese and serve in a wrap with salad.
Each stage involves a bit more confidence, but you can make fast, cheap, healthy and tasty burritos in about 10 mins if you have this basic tomato sauce in the fridge.
For a veggie meal, add mushrooms and corgette to it after onions and cook down for a couple of mins before adding garlic and carrying on as before, serve with pasta.
For a vegan and also low-carb dish, add a tin of kidney beans or even wash a tin of baked beans to get rid of their sauce, cumin, chilli and chopped coriander before serving in lettuce 'taco' shells.
Similar Recipes
View all similar
Comments (0)