Whats on tonight's menu? Ridiculously Easy Pasta!

I grew up on supermarket pasta sauces. Ads make them look delish, showing a saucepan filled with tomato, garlic, onion and other herbs which have been gently simmering together.  Apparently this saucepan of goodness is the sauce you buy in the jar.  I don’t know what half of the ingredients are on the back of those sauce jars, but I know its not like an Italian mamma used to make!

People buy stuff in a jar because its convenient and easy. I offer you a pasta sauce which is ridiculously easy, 100% real food ingredients and healthy for you too!

All you need...

• Roma tomatoes (2-3 big ones, or 5-6 small ones)
• 1 Red onion
• Fresh basil leaves,torn up (a small handful should do)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

*****

1. Chop up your onion and gently fry.
2. When onions are translucent, add the tomatoes (which are diced up to your desired level of chunkiness), plus some salt & pepper to taste. Allow it to simmer gently (just like the ads!)
3.  Add the basil a few minutes before the pasta is cooked.
4. Once the pasta is drained, put the pasta back in the saucepan, add the sauce plus a few drizzles of olive oil. Toss, then serve with freshly shaved parmesan cheese.

Yep, thats it.  And you can improvise with this too – pine nuts, garlic, carrot, fresh mince, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, chilli, beans, rosemary, oregano, parsley – all these can be added to the sauce.  My sauce tonight has added sundried tomatoes, pine nuts and garlic.

Simmering up a storm!

 To keep the healthiness going in this dish, avoid using white pasta. There is little nutritional value in white pasta and it has a high glycemic index (which means it will give you a high energy boost quickly, followed by a quick energy drop). Wholemeal pasta, buckwheat pasta or spelt pasta has a lower glycemic index (lower energy release) and contains fibre. Did I mention that they taste good as well?

Bon appétit!  

-Laura x

Creamy sauces on a non-refrigerated shelf... anyone else think this is just plain wrong??