The Basics 2: The Tomato Sauce

The tomato sauce that I wish to describe here is a number of flavours taken from all over the world and combined into what I feel is a rich, flavoursome sauce that can be used for any number of dishes. Please experiment with any ingredients to obtain your own unique taste!

Ingredients

• tomatoes - tinned Italian plum 600, or fresh if you can obtain
• onions - a large white sweet variety
• carrot - one medium size sliced and chopped thinly (julien)
• celery - one large stick finely chopped
• garlic - large fresh cloves for crushing
• herbs - mixed, Italian or herbs de provence
• pimentón - dried smoked red pepper powder
• pepper, black whole peppercorns
• salt - a good coarse Atlantic sea salt 
• lemon, one half
  
• white wine - 100ml 
• stock - fish, chicken or vegetable

 Method

1. Start with the onion preparation from Basics 1:  Preparing the Onions
2. Prepare the carrot and celery and add to the cooking onions.
3. Peel about 3 -5 cloves of garlic by crushing the clove beneath the blade of your knife using the palm of your hand. The garlic shell.is now easily removed.
4. Chop finely using a see-saw action with a large, sharp kitchen knife, using the blade to gather the garlic pieces into a heap for further slicing.
5. Leave the garlic to stand for at least 3 minutes so that the flavour can develop before adding to the pot.
6. Now saute the garlic with the onions and oil until it begins to turn translucent.
7. Grind in a dose of black pepper
8. If you are making an Italian Bolognese sauce, add 500g of low fat beef mince now and brown in the pan.
9. Add 2 x 400g tins of peeled plum tomatoes to the pot. Tomatoes can be dessicated in the tin using a kitchen scissors or sliced in the pot using the sharp edge of a wooden spatula.
10. Stir in 1-2 teaspoons of mixed herbs.
11. Sprinkle a flat teaspoon of pimento into the pot.
12. Add the salt to taste and/or the stock depending on how salty the stock is!
13. Add the white wine to the sauce.
14. Stir well and leave to cook on a Low Heat for at least one hour or more.

Cook's Tips

• Squeeze half a lemon's juice into the sauce for a very unique flavour.
• Add a teaspoon of good brown sugar if the acidity of the sauce is too high.
• A quarter teaspoon of cayenne are a nice kick of heat.
• To make the sauce go further add about 80-100g of brown or green lentils.