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The first recipe I am sharing with you on here is a super easy and delicious one. It is a tomato-based pasta sauce which can be enjoyed on its own (or in the company of some grated cheese) on your pasta. But you can also use it as a base for loads of different variations.

You need – for 4 medium to large portions:

• 1 red bell/sweet pepper,
• 1 medium size onion,
• 1 medium size carrot,
• 1 pack of tomato passata,
• 2 cloves of garlic,
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• salt, white pepper, Herbs de Provence,
• 2-3 tbsp. sunflower/vegetable oil
• 1 tsp honey

How to make it:

Cut the onion, bell/sweet pepper and carrot in very small pieces.

Puree the garlic. This is my preferred way of doing this: I cut the garlic up in tiny pieces. Then I sprinkle it with a bit of salt, to get all the juices out and squish it with the blade of a large knife until it has a paste-like texture.

Heat up the oil in a frying or sauce pan. When it is hot add the carrot and the bell/sweet pepper first. Season with some salt and pepper.

After about 10 min. add the onions. When the onions are glassy looking it’s time to add the garlic.

5 Minutes later, add the tomato paste. Stir properly to distribute the past evenly.

Now add the passata. Again, stir properly.

Season with a bit more salt and pepper and at this point put the Herbs de Provence into the mix. Just be careful not to overdo it on the salt. Too much is not good for us. We all know that by now .

Now add the honey to counter the sourness of the tomatoes.

Let it reduce until it has reached the desired consistency. But the longer you let it simmer, the better it will taste.

Suggestions:

I recommend to cook a larger batch of this and freeze some of it. Just multiply the ingredients respectively.

This makes nicely for a yummy, quick and on top of all that healthy (you can always reduce the amount of oil you use) go-to meal which fits every budget. Don’t we all have days when we just don’t have the time to whip something up from scratch …… or, quite frankly, simply can’t be arsed to cook but still want something healthy instead of yet another Chipper’s Finest take-out.

As I mentioned before this base is ideal for playing with it a bit and try to add different ingredients so it won’t get boring. If you’re like me you can eat the same thing five days in a row and the world’s still a happy place. But I also know a lot of folk who need a good bit of variety.

Here’s an experiment that worked really well for our taste buds:

• Heat up some prawns (I used the small deep frozen ones)
• Add some garlic (depending on the amount one small clove is probably enough as you already have garlic in the basic recipe)
• Blanch some broccoli (again, the frozen kind and save some of the water.
• Add the broccoli and the basic sauce to the prawns
• Now top it up with 1 – 2 ladles of the broccoli water and let it simmer and reduce until it has the desired consistency.

Once I have landed some more successful experiments like this you will find them here. So don’t be a stranger.

Bon Appetit!

Now, dig in ‘n enjoy!

And don’t forget to share any feedback and suggestions of your own regarding a different twist on this. I’d really appreciate it.