Tomato Sauce (English)

This tomato sauce recipe is by far the best tomato sauce recipe I have ever made. It may be a little more fiddly than some but the results are worth it; a thick chunky deep-flavoured sauce. The richness of the finished sauce makes it perfect for freezing and the sauce makes a perfect base for soups (by simply adding a good stock), or a fabulous sauce for pasta, grilled meats and fish. The sauce when sieved thoroughly gives a silky tomato coulis. If you don't have super-fresh tomatoes then use canned, they work very well also.

1 medium rib celery, finely diced, ⅛"
1 medium carrot, peeled, finely diced, ⅛"
1 small onion, finely diced, ⅛"
1 clove garlic, finely diced, ⅛"
1 lb (10 oz) fresh tomatoes, skin on, roughly chopped into large pieces (750 g)
1 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 cup basil leaves
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter

Chop the celery, carrot, onion and garlic into tiny pieces (1/8", 3 mm), roughly all the same size.

Place the tomato pieces in a large casserole. Place the carrot, then the celery, the onion, garlic and finally the herbs on the top. Pour the olive oil over and cook for 1 hour, on a medium heat without stirring but just shaking the pan to prevent it from sticking.

Put the contents through a food mill, (or if you don't have one use a food processor but do not over blend, the sauce should be thick and quite chunky and you should be able to see tiny bits of the vegetables within the thick sauce).

Add the butter and further reduce the sauce until it has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Freeze in small batches as the sauce is concentrated.

Makes 1½ lbs (700 g) of finished sauce.