This recipe makes a large quantity of Super Veggie Passata – a great sauce to have

in the freezer as a handy stand-by. You can prep all the veg by hand, but it's much

easier to just chop them in a food processor in batches, and you'll have a super

speedy veggie sauce in no time at all.

Keyword base, pasta sauce, sauce

Servings batches

Equipment

Hand blender

Ingredients

2 large onions quartered
2 celery sticks each cut into 6 chunks
1 tsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
2 large carrots peeled and each cut into 6 chunks
2 large courgettes each cut into 6 chunks
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato purée
3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
½ tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Tip the onions and celery into a food processor and blitz until roughly chopped. Heat a sauté pan until hot, add the olive oil and chopped onions and celery and fry over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until just softening, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, tip the garlic, carrots and courgettes into the processor and blitz until they are roughly chopped too. Add them to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the oregano and tomato purée to the pan and mix well, then tip in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes until all the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Season with the salt and some black pepper.
Remove from the heat and either carefully decant in batches into a blender, or use a hand-held stick blender in the pan, and blitz to a fine purée.
Set aside to cool, then decant any passata you’re not using straightaway into two or three airtight/freezerproof containers, dividing it evenly among them, and transfer to the fridge or freezer.

Notes

The passata will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days, or it can be frozen for up to 2 months. If frozen, defrost fully in the fridge overnight and then use as required for pizza toppings or pasta sauces. If reheating before use, heat in a pan over a low heat until piping hot throughout.