The “lip smackingly good” tomato sauce!

Now for a “lip smackingly good” tomato sauce – perfect with the meatballs!

Here goes :

Tomato Sauce

500g passata

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of roasted garlic or crushed fresh garlic

1 tbsp of rapeseed oil

knob of butter – 25g

1 tbsp of tomato paste

250g of vegetable stock

a generous sprinkle of oregano

black pepper to taste

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp of salt, to taste

Melt the oil and butter in a medium size saucepan (21cms/8” in diameter), add the onion and soften gently – 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic. Add the oregano and black pepper. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes. It's important that you cook the paste – if you don't it will be bitter and taste horrible! Add the passata, stock and then the sugar. The sugar is meant to balance out the acidity that one sometimes gets with tomatoes. Simmer the sauce for 30 minutes. The sauce will reduce and thicken. Taste the sauce before you add any salt – it's a matter of personal taste. The flavours in your sauce will develop and so will benefit from being made a couple of days ahead and fridged.

The sauce freezes well, bear in mind the size of portions – whatever suits you – smaller is more practical, you can always take out two – no waste.

You'll get 670g of sauce from the recipe.

Onions, garlic and spices in the pan with tomato paste

The sauce at the beginning of the cook

Check out the depth of colour at the end

You could create a pizza with the tomato sauce and load with meatballs and whatever else takes your fancy – don't forget to treat yourself to a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan as well as the traditional mozzarella.

You could go the obvious route of spaghetti (as a guide 75g of dry spaghetti per person) - tomato sauce and meatballs – traditional is good!

One thing is certain your sauce and meatballs give you flexible working week supper ideas and the cherry on top of the cake – all you have to do is pull the sauce and the meatballs from your treasure chest.

What's not to love!

Now for some ideas for the festivities – Christmas and New Year!

LSG Chicken Curry – the photos

Here's the proof :

Delicious

and again!

Do I have your attention?

The verdict :

Silence is always good – demolished!

It was worth every second of the time it took.

LSG Chicken Curry – the nitty gritty

or hints and tips!

If, like me, you stock pile your slow cooked star anise chicken stock why not use some of your liquid gold to slow cook or poach chicken fillet. Don't forget my mantra – always slow cook or poach at least six when you only need two! If you have a stock of frozen stock then use the anise infused version to poach or slow cook the fillet. Chicken is a great protein and when cooked in a good stock, infused with flavour it gives you a delicious ingredient to use in so many different ways. Freeze, individually, any remainder - ready for another day.

I should remind you – there are two variations for slow cooking a whole chicken, sprinkling with oregano or, in this instance, omitting the oregano and popping two whole star anise into the cavity of the chicken. What you'll get is a delicately infused anise flavour in the stock which is perfect for the curry sauce and your chicken fillet too.

This is how to get the maximum from minimum effort and get the best from your chest. You've got the stock from the slow cooked chicken to use in the curry sauce and to poach the chicken fillet too, the curry sauce and, last but by no means least, you've used your treasure chest to store them all. Job done.

Ideas for other uses for a fast mid week supper and a lunch or two?

How about another wacky pizza idea? Defrost your curry sauce – don't add the coconut cream. Spread the curry sauce over your defrosted pizza dough, if you're a fan of calzone then load half with a shredded chicken breast, add finely sliced sweet peppers and whatever else hits the pizza spot. If you want a veggie version then use vegetable stock in your curry sauce instead of the chicken. Cook Quorn pieces in some of the curry sauce and then load and add toppings you love!

LSG tomato sauce on its way … but photos first!

More about the sauce

The curry sauce takes more time than I'd advocate during your MTM stuff – it'll take an hour and all I can say is you won't regret it. You need to bear in mind that you can't walk away, the sauce needs your stirring attention. I sat at my hob with paperwork long overdue – you could equally do food prep that's on your list – any job that doesn't take you away – use your timer! It's still multitasking just in a different way.

The sauce freezes well and I'd suggest you might want to do so in portions that you know will suit you best. Remember, you can always take out more than one portion, infinitely better than wasting part of a larger box.

Here's what I did with my fridged curry sauce. I tipped it into a medium saucepan and warmed it through. I added 160ml of coconut cream and stirred until thoroughly absorbed. You'll have a curry sauce that is thick and delicious.

The list of uses for this sauce is endless, from leftover meat and poultry to veggies too. You can make the sauce vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken, if that's your bag.

A chicken curry and the photos are up next but before I go I have not forgotten that I mentioned two LSG sauces – a tomato sauce is another valuable asset, this time perfect for Mediterranean flavours and recipes.

Hold another thought!

Lip Smackingly Good (LSG) Sauces

Before we carry on with the remaining working week suppers I think the time is right for two more LSG sauces.

I do love a useful sauce, especially one that can be used in different ways. The following is a curry sauce – in particular meant to resemble what I'd call a “chip shop curry”. To explain, the chip shop curry is not as strong as traditional curries. For those who eat curries, to give you an idea of “heat” and “spice” I'd say it's not as hot and spicy as a rendang and not as mild as a korma, so middle for diddle, suitable for everyone.

Here's the recipe :

Curry Sauce

50g unsalted butter

2 large onions, finely sliced and chopped

1 tsp of ginger paste

4 roasted garlic cloves

3 tbsp mild curry powder

3 tbsp malt vinegar

½ tsp star anise powder

500ml of the slow cooked star anise chicken stock

2 tbsp slaked cornflour

2 tbsp lemon juice

160ml coconut cream

Using a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Fry gently until soft – about 15 minutes, make sure there's no colour. Add the curry powder, star anise powder and vinegar, fry for another minute. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stir occasionally, you don't want it to stick.

Add two tbsp of water to the cornflour, mix and pour into the sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stir until you've got a silky, thickened sauce. Blitz with a hand blender until smooth, add the lemon juice.

At this point, decant into boxes. You will get approximately 630g of curry sauce and I divided between two. I froze one box and fridged the other.

I was using one for this evenings meal.

Hold that thought ...