Who doesn't enjoy a good Spaghetti Bolognese!
I certainly do but recently I began to get concerned about the amount of additives and sugar that is found in the ready made pasta sauces you can find at the store. I never used to care much about food but as I get a little older I have begun to take more of an interest in what I put in my body. I enjoy a good pasta but thought I could do a little better when it came to the tomato sauce I used. I'm not saying I'm a chef, I don't really know that much about cooking but I know what I like and I know what I don't want to put in my food. I know that the off the shelf sauces have gotten a little healthier of late, or at least the leading brands have, but I was still concerned about the amount of sugar they contain.
After a little experimentation I came up with the recipe I will share with you now.
Start with the ingredients in the photo above right, which are
About 2lbs of fresh tomatoes (whichever you prefer)
3 medium sized Onions
3 medium sized Red Peppers
Garlic
Basil
Salt
Pepper
A splash of water in the bottom of the pan
And here's how
The first thing to do is chop up the Onions. If you like to chop them finely, feel free to do so but for me this can be a bit of a chore so I simply cut them in half then into slices then separate out the semi-circles like so.
Then fry the Onions in Olive Oil until they begin to turn transparent. A chef told me this is important so as to release the sugars in the Onions.
Whilst the Onions are frying, take a saucepan like this one (I put it next to the toaster oven for a size reference) and put about a quarter of an inch of water in it, then add salt and pepper to taste (I put half a teaspoon of salt and a full teaspoon of ground black pepper, because I like it). The preferred option is fresh Basil but on this occasion I couldn't find any so a good friend of mine gave me some freshly prepared Basil Pesto (Chopped Basil in Olive Oil) Which I added to the pan with the garlic.
I didn't weigh the Garlic but I'm sure you get the idea from the photo, plus it's really up to you how much you like Garlic.
Now we're ready to chop the Tomatoes. It's a good idea to wash them first, where I live it is not uncommon to find a few beasties residing in amongst you fruit and veg, not to mention the earth and other unidentified residues which may be on them.
Once again, you can chop the Tomatoes any way you like but I do them this way simply because its easier and doesn't matter anyway as the whole will be blended at the end anyway.
By the time you have a few Toms in the pan your Onions will probably be ready. I add them at this stage for no particular reason other than that they are ready to go in. Then continue to add the chopped Tomatoes until they're all in then place the pan back on the heat; medium to high on the gas ring. The mix will take about 40 minutes to cook through so you'll have plenty of time to cut up the three Red Peppers and add them to the mix. I like to take out the seeds; they usually come out pretty easily if you cut the top off the Pepper then grab the heart and pull it out complete. And again it doesn't matter how fine you chop the peppers but the smaller the better as they take the longest to soften up while cooking. At this stage I would like to explain why I add the Peppers.
The first couple of times I made this sauce I did so without any Peppers but the sauce came out very runny, more like a tomato soup. Now, I like tomato soup but not when I'm trying to make Tomato Sauce. Anyway, one day I happened to have a few Red Peppers in the fridge when I was cooking the sauce and I thought I'd add them just for a little extra flavour. Little did I know that by adding the Peppers I would actually achieve the perfect thickness i was looking for in my sauce. I haven't yet found out why, I simply accept it and enjoy the result.
Don't forget to give the mix the occasional stir and after about 40 minutes on the heat you will see, and hear the mix boiling nicely and all the Tomatoes should look cooked. Poke the Peppers with a fork and if they're soft your sauce is ready to be taken off the heat. I like to let it cool down completely before I perform the final stage which is to blend the sauce until it is smooth; I like to do this as I have always had a problem with certain textures in food, I'll elaborate on this in another post in the next few days . It is a good idea to allow it to cool first as placing boiling sauce in your plastic blending jug will damage the jug and, apart from this, handling the boiling sauce can result in burns (speaking from experience)
The end result will look like this and if you use the quantities I did you will have about half a gallon of sauce. Quite a lot you might think but let me tell you, this sauce will keep in your fridge for up to three weeks without going bad. It may even last longer but what can i tell you.... I eat a lot of foods covered in my delicious home made Tomato Sauce.
Enjoy and feel free to comment and make suggestions.
Health warning. I am not a Chef!
