Classic Italian tomato sauce

Make this easy Italian tomato sauce, perfect for pasta, chicken, fish and eggs.

Classic tomato sauce

Sugo di pomodoro classico

A classic, easy tomato sauce made from canned peeled tomatoes. This is a delicious, simple sauce that is great with pasta, chicken, eggs or almost anything! Always choose an Italian variety of tinned tomatoes, we like Cirio and we always use whole tomatoes for a perfect texture and flavour. You can break the tomatoes up in a bowl first or mash them down with a potato masher. If you want a smooth sauce simply blend it with a stick blender. Always use plenty of extra-virgin olive oil for the best flavour – you also need enough oil to fry the onions for a long time to make them sweet. In turn this balances against the acidity of the tomatoes.

Serves 6

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium red or white onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves

3 x 400g cans Italian plum tomatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic over a low to medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until softened and translucent. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomatoes and rinse the cans out with a little water, then add this to the pan. Bash the tomatoes with a potato masher or wooden spoon to break them up. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 40 minutes to concentrate the flavours. The sauce should be thick and not watery. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

 

Per serving: 7g net carbs, 4g fibre, 1.9g protein, 11g fat, 139kcal