I despise eating food off the shelf – the boxed, canned, frozen, heat-and-eat kind. I always wonder what sorts of preservative must have been used in it to maintain that shelf life. I especially think that something like a tomato sauce should never be bought because it is so easy to make!
Let the onion and garlic work their magic with some extra virgin olive oil and then add to it some flavourful, ripe tomatoes and a handful of fresh basil and you have yourself some delicious tomato sauce ready in no time.
I make this tomato sauce often and use it a lot for pizzas and pastas. I especially love adding extra basil. And now that I have it growing on my window, I can go plucking as many leaves as I want. The next step of course would be using my own tomatoes (seeds have sprouted and the plant is growing beautifully).
Tomato Basil Sauce
4 tbsp / 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green chilli (optional – depending on how hot you like your sauce)
2 lb. / 900g tomatoes
1 oz. / 30g basil leaves
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and plonk in the tomatoes. Cut an X on the bottom of your tomatoes for easy peeling.
- Place them in the boiling water for a minute and then remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath for the skin to easily peel off.
- Cut, core and seed the tomatoes.
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions. Cook until translucent. Add the minced garlic and chillies, if you are using them.
- Add the tomatoes and salt and simmer for about 20 minutes. You can whizz it up with a stick blender to get the consistency you like (I like a blend of smooth and chunky).
- Chop the basil leaves just before adding to the sauce so that they’re still green. Simmer for another 2 minutes.
- Use as a sauce for your pasta or pizza within a week.