Easy Pasta Sauce

Do you buy tins of tomatoes or jars of Bolognese sauce? Have you actually thought about making some yourself?

It's surprisingly easy and you can make large quantities that can be frozen and used later.

If you can get hold of a large bag of soft tomatoes cheap that the grocer might be throwing out then it works out real cheap.

Here's a simple recipe that works really well.  Play around with the quantities to suit your own taste.

Ingredients

1 kg / 2.5 lb of tomatoes

6 cloves garlic - crushed

2 chilies - finely chopped

Olive oil

Thyme/Basil/Marjoram - choose your own herb, just a few leaves

• Fry up the garlic and chili with a tablespoon of olive oil over a medium heat for about 1 minute and then take out and set aside.
• Add the tomatoes to the pan (chop them in half if they are big) and let them heat through.  As they heat up they will soften and you will be able to start squashing them and getting the juice out.  Keep stirring and adjust the heat so that they don't stick to the bottom.
• Add the chili and garlic together with your chosen chopped herbs and cook through for a further 10 minutes.

You can keep the sauce with lumps in it but if you want it really smooth (and kids don't like the lumps for some reason) then use a hand blender to turn it into a real smooth aromatic tomato sauce.

It can be used with pasta, adding it to meat dishes or even as a marinade before barbecuing.  

If you make large enough quantities it's easy to freeze - just make sure you've thoroughly de-frosted it before using.