This is the basis of many many meals. This makes around 2 litres of sauce, so if you don’t need it all freeze the rest for another day.
This really simple, but so good. A simple plate of your favourite pasta dressed with this sauce is a great traditional Italian dinner everyone will love.
Basic Tomato Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: approx 2 litres
The mother sauce of many Italian meals.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
- 6 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
- 125ml water
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- pinch of salt
- 5 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Splash a little olive oil into a saucepan and saute the onion, celery and carrot over a medium heat for 3 – 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the tomatoes, water, oregano and salt. Stir to combine, increase the heat and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the basil leaves, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Cook for 5 minutes more. Transfer everything to a food processor and blitz to make a smooth sauce.
Hi Liliana,
Since im based in Australia too, is there a specific brand of tomato cans that you would recommend. I’ve heard there is an Italian brand which gives really good flavor for a pizza sauce but im not sure of the name.
thanks 🙂
Hi Simran
To be honest, I am not that fussy with which brand. As long as there is nothing in the can but tomatoes (ie no herbs, salt or sugar etc.) it’ll be fine. The brand you’re thinking of is Mutti – they are very nice. For pizza sauce, I like to use Passata, which is pureed tomatoes. It’s nice and smooth and no need to cook because the oven will do that when the dough is cooking and the sauce will taste nice and fresh (they don’t use cooked sauce in Italy either).