Every home cook needs a good tomato sauce recipe. Tomato sauce is simple and quick to make and is so much cheaper and tastier than anything you can buy. It is so versatile and can be used in so many different ways.

My tomato sauce is great on it’s own but I also use it as a pizza sauce or with my meatballs or for my meatball subs. I sometimes use it as a sauce to accompany roasted vegetables – This can be used to make a delicious puff pastry tart or can be used as a sauce for a simple pasta dish also. It can also be used it when making a pasta bake.

I use 9 ingredients (of which 6 are seasonings) – olive oil, garlic, tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and sugar.

For the tinned tomatoes make sure to use good quality plum tomatoes. You can puree them, leave them whole or crush them with your hand or a fork depending on what texture you prefer. I like to puree the sauce after cooking as I feel the flavour intensifies by doing this.

It will store well in the fridge for 3-4 days and can also be frozen. I like to keep individual portions in my freezer that I can remove to make a quick pasta dinner for my sons or even a pizza baguette. That way I am never without a quick tasty meal for some hungry boys.

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Tomato Sauce (for pasta)

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tins plum tomatoes
• 2 tsp mixed herbs
• 1 tsp oregano
• fresh basil leaves (small handful)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

• Heat your olive oil and fry the garlic gently for 1-2 minutes being careful not to burn it
  
• Add the tinned tomatoes, herbs and sugar and bring to the boil. I usually add a little water to the tin to clean it out and add this to the saucepan.
• Simmer for 20-25 minutes making sure to stir every now and then
  
• Puree the sauce using a hand blender until smooth
• Season with salt and black pepper. The quantities will depend on your taste buds.