Family Meal : Pasta Sauce Recipe

Made some pasta sauce this morning as I had some leftover vegetables which would not keep for long. It’s a great way to use vegetables with a short shelf life or when you don’t have really enough to serve with a meal.

It’s also a great vegetarian or even vegan recipe (if you use alternative to cheese).
I used tomatoes, peppers, onion and carrot but you could also use courgettes and/or aubergines.
To give the sauce fuller flavour, I always simmer it for at least an hour over a very low heat. No need to stay near the pan as it’s so low it should not burn or stick.
You can also make a large batch of the sauce and freeze it. If you want to make a larger batch, after frying all the vegetables, I would use my slow cooker and cook them on a low heat. Around 4 hours but you could leave them longer.

You could also add mince and use this as a base for Lasagna or Spaghetti Bolognaise.

Ingredients

(This quantity made enough sauce for 2 people)

4 baby peppers or 1 larger pepper
1 onion
1 carrot
1 bag of cherry tomatoes (I also added the 3 small tomatoes I had leftover)
Italian herbs
Bay leaf
Garlic
Parsley
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil for the pan

Method

Chop all the vegetables into small cubes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add all the vegetables (except the tomatoes).
Cook on a low heat until tender, transfer to a pan.
Put a little oil in the frying pan and add the tomatoes, cook on a medium heat until they break up slightly.
Add tomatoes to the vegetables, next add the herbs, salt and pepper. Add a little water and simmer in a covered pan for about 1 hour.
Serve this with pasta and Parmesan cheese.

Recipe by : Brigitte Kershaw

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