Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce

I’ve stopped buying tomato sauce in the shops. A while back I bought a tray of jars and lids and I now make my own and it keeps for month. I know what goes in, it’s exactly to my taste and it’s much much cheaper!

I do 2 versions of this for now. One is vegeterian and the other not so much. All you need is good tunes in the background and a couple of hours to spare!

Veggie option 

Ingredients: 

4 tins of chopped tomatoes, 2 medium onions, 5 cloves of garlic, a handful of oregano (fresh if you have it), a handful of sage (again fresh if you can), a handful of herbes de provences, a bottle of decent red wine (nothing too strong tasting, and personally I would go with an old world wine), olive oil, salt. pepper, 3 branches of celery, 1 vegetable stock cube (for the meat lovers use 2 cubes of beef stock instead), 3 pears, 1 apple and 1 tbsp (that’s optional and you will know from the taste whether you want the sugar or not).

Method:

Add all the ingredients in a large pot on low heat. The onions and garlic should be cut roughly. No need to chop finely. Pour yourself a glass of the red wine. The rest of the bottle is the perfect quantity for adding in the sauce. Add it to the pot one medium glass at a time (there should be at least 3 left in the bottle after the chef’s catch). Let it cook on low heat for 90 min. By the you should have all the wine in. Blend the sauce and return to a low heat with an added glug of olive oil. Cook on the lowest setting for at least another hour.