Tomato sauce
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
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Makes: 8 portions
 
Ingredients
  • 50 ml oil
  • 250 gr celery
  • 400 gr carrot
  • 200 gr onion
  • 20 gr garlic
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 60 gr pesto
  • 800 gr tomato passata
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 tbspn thyme
  • 4 tbspn oregano
Instructions
  1. Dice onion, celery, carrot and garlic.
  2. Stir fry the vegetables on a high heat for a minute to give them a deep roasting flavour.
  3. Lower the heat and add the tomato puree. Cook for a minute.
  4. Add the pesto, tomato passata, bay leaves, thyme and oregano and bring the sauce to a simmer.
  5. Simmer the sauce on a low heat for 20 min. When the vegetables are soft, remove the bay leaves and puree the sauce with a stick blender.
  6. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add if needed extra salt, pepper or Italian herbs.
Stuff to know
Add some red wine to the sauce.
If the sauce seems to thick, add some tomato juice, tomato passata or stock. If the sauce is too thin, mix some corn flour with cold water and add that the sauce, which will thicken when boiling again.
For an even more intense tomato flavour, cut real tomatoes in half and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oil and herbs. Roast them in the oven until charred. Add them to the sauce before blitzing.
Recipe by Jeroen Valkenier Recipes at https://jpvalkenier.com/tomato-sauce/