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Hidden vegetable tomato base sauce recipe

My son has requested lasagne for dinner tonight (it's his birthday) but I'd no pasta sauce left so time to make another batch of this my staple tomato base sauce. I have been making this sauce for around 6 years now and I always have some in my freezer. At the time my youngest was going through a phase of refusing most vegetables and things were getting pretty stressful around meal times. I had the idea of trying to blend some vegetables into a tomato sauce to use for pasta. So that was where I started - I added chopped carrots to tinned tomatoes and added a little stock as it got too thick. Once it was ready I blended it and tasted it and it was ok but I thought maybe there was a hint of carrot taste so I added some tomato puree and the carrotty taste was gone. Next time i made it I had done my homework online and found people doing similar things with an array of different veg so I got my trusty food processor out and blitzed all the veg I had left in my veg drawer from the week before - a pepper, some mushrooms, a sweet potato, 1/4 of a cabbage, a few sticks of celery and some carrots. I upped the amount of stock and added an extra tin of tomatoes. As it cooked I kept tasting it and added more tomato puree and some worcestershire sauce. Once it tasted like a tomato sauce I blitzed it with the hand blender and froze it in 400ml portion sizes. Remember I had made it as a pasta sauce originally but a couple of days later I was making a chicken tikka masala and Kyle hadn't eaten any veg all day so instead of adding 2 tins of chopped tomatoes I added 2 portions of my tomato pasta sauce. I served it up as usual and no one noticed any difference and so my tomato base sauce was 'invented'. Since then I have used all sorts of veg in it including those stir fry veg packs you get from the supermarket when I picked them up for 10p! I use it in every recipe that calls for tinned tomatoes which is why I don't add onions, garlic or any herbs or spices as they get added in the recipes separately. I even use it as a base for homemade pizzas! Have a go and let us know how you get on in the comments.

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Yields4 Servings
Prep Time15 minsCook Time45 minsTotal Time1 hr
 4 large carrots unpeeled and blitzed in my mini processor
 5 celery also blitzed
 2 courgettes
 1 pepper
 200 g mushrooms
 2 tins of tomatoes
 4 tbsp Tom purée
 2 tbsp Worcester sauce
 1 l beef stock
1

I add all the ingredients to a large pot, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and put the lid on.

2

Then I reduced the heat and left to simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally until it was thick and glossy looking.

3

Then I blitzed it in the food processor in batches til it was fairly smooth - you can use a hand blender.

4

If your family are used to jars then you should probably have a taste now and if it's a bit 'bitter' then you can stir in some sugar to neutralise the tomatoes (Remember a 500g jar of dolmio has something like 6 tsp of sugar in it so you adding a couple to yours is still MUCH healthier). You can reduce the amount gradually each time you make it.

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Ingredients

 4 large carrots unpeeled and blitzed in my mini processor
 5 celery also blitzed
 2 courgettes
 1 pepper
 200 g mushrooms
 2 tins of tomatoes
 4 tbsp Tom purée
 2 tbsp Worcester sauce
 1 l beef stock

Directions

1

I add all the ingredients to a large pot, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and put the lid on.

2

Then I reduced the heat and left to simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally until it was thick and glossy looking.

3

Then I blitzed it in the food processor in batches til it was fairly smooth - you can use a hand blender.

4

If your family are used to jars then you should probably have a taste now and if it's a bit 'bitter' then you can stir in some sugar to neutralise the tomatoes (Remember a 500g jar of dolmio has something like 6 tsp of sugar in it so you adding a couple to yours is still MUCH healthier). You can reduce the amount gradually each time you make it.

Hidden vegetable tomato base sauce recipe

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