I've got a couple of basic recipes to put up. I've been putting it off, because I realised the other day that this blog has outgrown what I originally meant for it. So I'm moving it, but I haven't fixed up the other page yet. So, procrastination is my name at the moment.
This is for my friend Star, who a few weeks ago, asked me if I had a good plain tomato sauce for pasta recipe. I usually just make a sauce up as I go, with a few basic things, so I tried out a few different things, and have decided that this batch was a good basic recipe. You can make this, and add other things to it to make quick different sauces. Bacon and chilli, for Spicy Bacon Pasta. Olives, capers, capsicum and a good italian sausage for a variation of Puttanesca. Add a whole batch to some browned mince, and you've got a basic bolognaise.
I learned sometimes the simplest sauce you could make, was cooking some crushed garlic, adding a good tomato sugo, fresh basil leaves and seasoning. And that is a good sauce. But other times, it's nice to have a bit of variation.
See? A plain tomato sauce :)
Simple ingredients. I beg you to ignore the 'jar' of garlic, and in your mind, substitute a fresh garlic bulb...
Moving on, you need an onion, a clove of garlic (or two, depending on how much you like garlic - we love garlic), a tin of tomatoes (crushed or diced), tomato paste, salt, pepper & mixed herbs (or basil & oregano).
Finely dice your onion. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan on medium-high, then saute your onion for 3-4 minutes, until it's becoming translucent.
Crush the garlic, and add it to the pan, stirring it in so it doesn't burn, and cook for a further 1 minute.
Add the tin of tomatoes to the pan, and stir them in.
Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce and stir through. Pour 1/4 cup water into the pan and stir. (I usually rinse the tomato tin with water, and add that - gets all the extra tomatoey goodness I can possibly get into the pan.)
Add 1 tsp of basil & oregano, or 2 of mixed herbs (a really good shake) , and season the pot with salt & pepper. Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes, or whilst you've got your pasta on the boil (for example).
Ta da. A nice red sauce. You might like to have two tins of tomato in there, instead of the tomato paste & water, but I find that this volume is good for pasta for two people.
A good sauce to make a big batch of, and stick serves in the freezer. Easy to defrost, and have a good meal on no time.
Basic Red Sauce
2 tblsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves of garlic
1x 400g tin of tomatoes (crushed or diced)
2 tblsp tomato paste
1/4 cup water
2 tsp mixed herbs (or 1 tsp of basil & oregano each)
Heat a saucepan and add the olive oil. Saute the onion over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, and mix in, turning the heat down to a medium-low heat. Stir in the tomato paste, and add the water. Sprinkle the herbs into the pan, season with salt & pepper, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Sauce is great plain over pasta, with some parmesan cheese, or add extra ingredients to it, to make a heartier dish!
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