Tomato Sauce comes in many guises and plays
a major part in both French & Italian cookery
and yet its often under represented in cook books.
Though I work in a French Restaurant I am also
influenced by the evocative mental picture of
craggy-faced Italian grandmothers making tomato
sauce as if “a labour of love” for the whole family.
A tomato sauce so full of flavour that it makes me
think of late summer afternoons & the smell of
warm rain on the rich volcanic soil.

2 packets of vine ripened tomatoes (about 1 kilo)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 Tsp of olive oil
1 Large Spanish onion finely diced
3-4 large cloves of garlic peeled
sea salt to taste
fresh black pepper (from a pepper mill if possible)
1 medium sized carrot very finely diced.
8-10 large basil leaves chopped

Tips for a good tomato sauce
*Use good quality tomatoes (vine ripened) and the tinned tomatoes should be a quality brand such as Napolina.
*Don’t chop the garlic because it burns very quickly & can become bitter.
*Just peel the cloves and put them in,this way you can also take them back out of the sauce at the end of the cooking if you feel the sauce is garlicky enough.
*Be patient enough when cooking the onions, they should be soft but not brown before adding the tomatoes.
*Use olive oil not vegetable oil, you will notice the difference.
*Use fresh herbs not dried and put the herbs in the sauce at the end to keep the freshest flavour.
*Generally speaking I don’t put tomato paste in my tomato sauce, if you do use it do so sparingly.
Too much can spoil the colour of the sauce making it too dark almost reddy-brown or even bitter if the sauce is cooked for a long time.
* I don’t normally add sugar, wine or vinegar to tomato sauce because leaving the tomato seeds in during the cooking adds enough acidity and the carrot will bring out the natural sweetness of the tomatoes.
Making the sauce
1.) Make a crisscross on the bottom of each vine ripened tomato with a small sharp knife
2.) Carefully put them into boiling water for 10 seconds, then quickly drain and cool the tomatoes in cold water. The peel should come away easierly.
3.) Warm olive oil in a saucepan, then add the diced onion, carrot and garlic and
gently simmer until the vegetables are soft.
4.) Chop the now skinned fresh tomatoes and add once the onions are soft, and also the chopped tinned tomatoes.
5.) Simmer the sauce gently for about 40 minutes (stirring occasionally), then season with salt & pepper.
6.) Blend with a hand blender leaving the sauce as chunky or as smooth as your personal taste requires. *You can also strain the blended sauce if you want
a very smooth finish & add a small splash of olive oil.
Chef’s Tip
Besides the obvious addition of Basil there are several other herbs that go particularly well with tomato sauce like Coriander, or you could combine Basil & Oregano for a more Italian flavour.
Or try other favourites of mine like chopped Olives.

Other herbs such as Thyme, Rosemary, Tarrogon & Sage also work well in tomato sauce but you need to use less of these strongly flavoured herbs.