Easy Tomato Sauce

I have to confess – I don’t like tomato sauce. I don’t hate it, but if there’s a choice, I wouldn’t have it. I almost always choose cream or oil based sauces for pasta. I prefer non-tomato based soups. And even if there’s a choice between red or white pizza, I’ll usually choose white. Although, to be fair, I’ll eat any pizza, at any time, at any day!!

If it’s a really busy weeknight and we decide on pasta, then A. usually has his with a really nice organic brand tomato sauce that I buy at Costco and I in most cases just sprinkle some cheese over mine.

However, from time to time I do have Tomato Sauce cravings and I have tried making it a few times with no real success. Last week I gave it another go and the sauce turned out really good. In fact, it was so good that I had a few spoonfuls of it by itself and then I had an extra helping. 

You can cook this a little longer to get all the liquids thickened and then this sauce would be perfect for pizza or dipping. Alternatively, add some chicken stock and it’s easily converted into tomato soup.

Easy Tomato Sauce

Olive oil – 1 1/2 tablespoons
Onion – 1 medium
Garlic – 2 cloves
No salt diced tomatoes – 1 can (796 ml)
Spicy smoked paprika – 1 teaspoon
Garlic salt – 1/3 teaspoon
Thyme – 3 springs
Sugar – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

• Heat one tablespoon of oil on medium heat in the pan.
• While pan is heating, finely dice onion.
• Sauté onion for about 5-7 minutes or until soft and starting to turn gold colour.
• Slice the garlic (you could mince it too, but I prefer sliced) and add to the pan. Sauté for another couple of minutes.
• Strain liquid from tomatoes. Reserve liquid.
• Add tomatoes to the pan, add paprika, salt, thyme leaves and sauté on low-medium heat for about 10 minutes.
• Add reserved liquid and cook for another 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Pour the sauce into a blender and pulse a few times to get the consistency you prefer.
• Try the sauce and if it’s too acidic, then add a little bit of sugar.
• Add reserved 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and mim well.

Comments
– A colleague of mine told me that when she makes tomato soup, she always cooks tomatoes separately. According to her it brings out the tomato flavour more.
– I use really good organic no-salt diced tomatoes from Costco.
– I also use very little salt in my cooking, so the amount of salt may not be enough. Add more if needed.
– This sauce was really delicious and took almost no time to make and no fancy ingredients either.