Category Archives: tomato

No-sugar, no-artificial-anything tomato sauce

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Want something to squirt on your hamburger or steak, but don’t want all the nasty extras that come in commercial tomato sauces? Me too. So I made my own.

75g chopped onion
1 tsp crushed garlic
¼ cup chopped basil leaves
A small red chilli (about 7g), finely chopped
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbs chopped fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tbs olive oil
300g ripe tomatoes
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt to taste

Cut a small cross in the base of each tomato, place them in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over. Leave them to sit while you prepare your other ingredients, then drain them and the skins will be easy to peel off.* Chop the flesh roughly.

Heat a non stick pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Cook onion and garlic, stirring frequently until the onion is transparent. Add the chilli and the spices and stir for a minute or so. Add the chopped tomatoes and red wine vinegar and stir well. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes or until you have a sauce-like consistency. Remove the lid and simmer for a few minutes to evaporate more liquid if you need to. Add salt to taste.

You can leave this chunky, but after it cooled a bit, I threw mine into the blender and processed it to a finer texture. It’s still pretty chunky, as you can see from the photo. Kind of “rustic”, if you will.

Mine made 200ml, and I use a tablespoon per serve, so this quantity gives me 10 serves. I would have made more, but I only had a few tomatoes on hand…anyway, 10 serves will last me a while; I rarely use tomato sauce but it’s always a good accompaniment to a BBQ-ed hamburger or steak.

*You can omit this step if you like, but you’ll end up with stringy bits of tomato skins in your finished sauce.

Chicken meatballs with spicy tomato sauce

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chicken meatballs with spicy tomato sauce

Serves 3-4

400g lean chicken mince (or use beef, kangaroo or turkey)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ tsp crushed garlic
20g pine nuts
Chilli flakes to taste
1 tsp dried oregano
A big handful of continental parsley, chopped
1 tbs grated parmesan
A squeeze of lemon juice
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Mix onion and chicken mince in a bowl. Place all other ingredients except egg white into the bowl of a food processor and process until a coarse paste is formed. Add to the chicken mince and mix through, using hands for best results. Add about ½ the egg white, mixing well. You can add more if need be, but don’t make the mixture too sloppy.

Heat a non-stick pan and add two teaspoons of olive oil. Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and form into balls, then fry in batches, turning frequently until browned on all sides and cooked through. Serve with tomato sauce (over pasta or not, as you prefer) and a salad.

Tomato sauce

2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 tsp crushed garlic
400g can of chopped tomatoes
2 small roasted capsicums, chopped (you can use the kind you buy in jars or from the deli)
½ cup red wine
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
About 4 medium mushrooms, sliced

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add onion, garlic and chilli and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until onion is soft. Add capsicum and cook for a minute or two more. Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to cook a further 10 minutes uncovered.