three ways with organic tomato sauce

…firstly let me just apologise for the poor quality photo’s this week… i’m posting from my London flat and only have an iphone to work with, I promise i’ll sort this out soon…

… oh yes, here I go again with my tomato sauce but as any full-blooded italian will tell you, a good tomato sauce is a great staple to have in your cooking repertoire, is an absolute breeze to make and will see you good through quite a few dishes and god-forbid, any flavour-lacking emergencies… my original sauce recipe come from an authentic source itself – a sauce with source if you will – my italian friend Sandro who convinced me that making my own would be better than anything i could ever buy in the shops and of course he’s right… i’ve adapted it over the years and occasionally add special ingredients such as chilli or smoked paprika, it’s entirely up to you… you can make huge batches of this and jar it or even freeze it but it will also last in a tub in the fridge for over a week…

… part of the challenge to promote the Organic. Naturally Different. campaign is to develop recipes that have more than one hit, helping spread the weekly shop a little further… the thing is that we’re a household that rarely has any left-overs… it does happen on occasion but not often enough to plan whole meals… that’s why I though my versatile tomato sauce would be a good place to start…obviously at its most basic it can be used as a simple sauce for pasta, meatballs or risotto and of course it works well as a pizza topping too… then you can get a little more adventurous and use it as a filling in a quiche or even as a stunning rub for a roast chicken… its also incredible simply smothered onto a piece of sourdough toast with maybe a shaving of parmesan…

three ways with organic tomato sauce
i’ve gone for three simple but stunning ways to use this sauce and the first is this very simple pasta bake with basil, toasted walnuts, courgette ribbons and three types of cheese…

for the basic tomato sauce
2 onions – finely chopped
3 cloves garlic – crushed
2 250ml tins chopped tomatoes
fresh herbs and seasoning
olive oil and butter
a little red wine
a little balsamic vinegar

in a large pan gently saute the onions in a little olive oil and butter until golden, this should take about 15-20 minutes, then add the garlic and let that soften too for another 5 mins, then the herbs after which you add the tomatoes, wine and balsamic vinegar and let the whole thing bubble away on the lowest heat for a minimum of 2 hours, stirring occasionally

the next suggestion is painfully simple but gives a wonderful twist on the classic roast potatoes, you simple par boil your potatoes then pour some olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of sauce over them and roast them as normal… they taste phenomenal!

and finally this gloriously sloppy tomato foccacia which is made just like a regular focaccia but you knead in a tablespoon or two of the tomato sauce just before the final prove…

for the tomato foaccia – makes 2 in 2 pre-lined baking trays
500g organic white flour
2 teaspoons fast action dried yeast
2 teaspoons yeats
400ml water
plenty of olive oil

in a large bowl add the flour, yeast, salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, oil you hands and bring the whole thing together… it’s a very wet dough so the oiled hands help… knead in the bowl for 5 minutes then set aside covered with a cloth for 10 minutes after which you knead again in the bowl for 5 minutes – cover with cling film and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in size

split the dough into two and with one simply flatten into a lined baking tray, pushing the dough to the edges… and with the other half, knead in two tablespoons of the sauce and then flatten into your second prepped baking tray… let the dough rest for another 30 minutes

bake on 200C for 20 minutes, then drizzle a little oil and plenty of salt on top and eat warm

i’ll have another organic recipe for you tomorrow… so watch this space… eat and of course, enjoy!