Homemade Pasta/Pizza sauce

Homemade sauce for pasta or pizza!

In my previous post to make Tomato based pasta, I used canned stewed tomatoes to make the tomato sauce. But given the amount of salt and the preservatives in canned food, I was reluctant to use it often. As we are cooking for our beloved family members, I realized that making freshly prepared sauce will benefit in the long run. My search for a good recipe for the pasta/pizza sauce led me to this recipe I am going to share with you. My kids love it, and most of the time when I make pasta with this sauce, I hardly have extra left. If you have extra sauce left,  refrigerate it and use it later (in 2 or 3 days ). The recipe has my own touch of herbs, spices and vegetables. Let's get started.... 

Main ingredients

Preparation time: 10 min.

Cooking time: 20 min

Difficulty: Medium

Serving size: 4 people

Ingredients

• Tomato - 4 medium size
• Onion - 1 medium size
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Parsley - 5 strands
• Dried Italian herbs - 1 tsp
• Paprika - 1 tsp(optional)
• Red capsicum - 1 medium size
• Olive oil - 3 tsp
• Salt to taste

Note: Using roma tomatoes and shallots give more of an authentic taste.

Preparation

1. Chop the onions, garlic, tomatoes and capsicum and set aside.
2. Separate the parsley leaves from its strands, clean, and set aside.

Note: Chopping the tomatoes and capsicum can be done in parallel when the onion and garlic are being sauteed. 

Cooking

1. In a skillet, warm 3 tsp of oil on medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until the onion turns light golden (translucent).
2. Once the onion and garlic turn light golden, add the chopped capsicum, saute it, and cook covered for 2-3 minutes. The rich taste of the sauce comes from the red capsicum, so it's one of the key ingredients. What a nice way to get the benefit of red capsicum to family members, especially kids.

   

   Cook as directed on medium heat

3. To the cooked capsicum, add the dried herbs, parsley, paprika (optional) and give it a saute.
4. Finally, add the the chopped tomatoes, give it a saute, and cook covered for 5 minutes. 
5. Remove it from the  stove and cool it.
6. Once cooled for at least 10 minutes, add to the blender (mixie) with required amount of salt (say 1/2 tsp)  and puree it. 
7. Pasta/Pizza sauce is ready to be used right away or later.

   

   Puree it after cooling it for 5 - 10 minutes

Note:

• The sauce can be used for making tomato based pasta, or as a base for homemade pizza. 
• Make in bigger amount and refrigerate some of it for later use. Since we saute the ingredients, the pureed sauce will stay fresh for at least a week, although I use it within 2 - 3 days.
• I have tried making the sauce without the red capsicum too, but I have to say that the richness of the sauce comes only from adding red capsicum.

Health benefits of the ingredients used in pasta/pizza sauce

Tomato is rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants that helps prevent cell damage. The rich potassium in tomatoes not only helps regulate blood pressure but it also helps to keep heart healthy. Red capsicum, in addition to the health benefits like that of tomato, also provides magnesium which helps soothing your nerves and muscles, thus reducing anxiety, especially helping women with premenstrual symptoms. Onion and garlic build our immunity system and also relieve us from cold and cough. For health benefits of the parsley refer Herbs for Cooking and their Health Benefits.

Freshly made rich and tasty pasta/pizza sauce

The pasta/pizza sauce not only looks and smells good, but is also rich in flavor. The red capsicum and the Italian spices add to the rich flavor of the sauce. The red capsicum, tomato, and paprika gives it a good natural color without any additives, preservatives or artificial flavors. Try it and I am sure you'll enjoy the taste....

You may also be interested in the following recipes:

Naveena Nangai - Healthy Eating Blog: Tomato Base Pasta ...

Creamy Mushroom Vegetable Soup - Naveena Nangai

Naveena Nangai - Healthy Eating Blog: Broccoli Cheese Soup