Tomatoes, love them or loathe them, we all use them.
Now, here at Deau Towers we get through a vast amount of tomatoes, whether they are eaten raw, used as a base for a curry, a pasta sauce or Spanish dishes. What does not happen ever, is that we buy a jar of ready made sauce.
Why I hear you ask? Well, in a few easy steps you too can make a delicious tomato sauce, the taste will be far superior than that from a jar. You will know exactly what you are eating and be safe in the knowledge it is not full of ingredients that you have never heard of. I am pretty sure it will be cheaper as well.
I do understand that we are all busy people and time is of the essence, but seriously, put the jars down!
As one of those busy people, what I do is make too much sauce and then freeze what I don’t use for future use. I like the warm smug feeling I get when I can pop into the freezer and grab some homemade sauce!
So here is how you too can get that smug feeling in an easy four step process. A professional chef (or photographer) I am not, therefore tweak the below as you see fit.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp of red wine vinegar
- 1 chopped onion
- 800 grams of mixed chopped tomatoes or 2 standard tins of tomatoes
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- To taste add, salt, black pepper, chilli and fresh thyme
- If you taste the sauce and it is slightly bitter, add a pinch of sugar
Preparation time – 5 minutes
Cooking time – 30 mins
STEP ONE – Gather your ingredients
STEP TWO – Chop up your ingredients
Lightly fry your onions and garlic, then add the rest of your ingredients into the pan to cook. As you can see I am so lazy, I did not even chop up the small tomatoes.
STEP THREE – After 30 mins or so blend the sauce to your preferred consistency
Taste the sauce, add anything extra here. Does it need more heat, more salt?
STEP FOUR – Use the sauce as you need
We used the sauce for 2 separate dishes and then froze what was left for future use.
- Gnocchi and meatballs
- Fusilli pasta with meatballs

Happy cooking!
#eatwell