Super Versatile Tomato Sauce

Preparation: 5 mins | Cooking time: 25 mins minimum or up to 2+ hours for better flavour | Serves: 4 adults.

Ingredients

• 800g of diced tomatoes
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
• 1tbs manuka honey (sugar is an alternative)
• 1tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 3 bay leaves
• ½ cup of chopped parsley
• ½ cup of white wine
• salt & pepper to season
• olive oil and/or butter

Method

• Heat a little oil (and butter if using) in a saucepan and add onions and garlic, stirring for approximately 2-3 mins until onion softens.
• Add white wine stir until the wine is simmering, ~1 min
• Add chopped tomatoes, herbs, honey, tomato paste and stir to combine, continue on medium heat until sauce starts to bubble and then turn to medium/low heat.
• For a quick sauce you can turn up the heat a little and cook for ~25 mins, until some of the liquid reduces.
• As the sauce cooks, season with salt and pepper to taste.
• For a deeper flavour cook for 2-3 hours, adding a little water (or white wine) if required.

Tips & Alternatives

• Use brown sugar instead of honey, and you can use other honey if manuka honey is a little over the top.
• Try swapping the parsley with fresh basil.
• You can go without the wine, as the tomatoes contain enough acidity on their own, however for me there are few dishes where I wouldn't add a little wine.
• Once you have the basic sauce you can experiment with additions such as prawns & chorizo or meatballs.
• Once cooked the sauce can be frozen for later.
• Leftovers are great used on pizza or on chicken parmigiana.