Garden pasta sauce

Ingredients

1kg ripe tomatoes
2 red capsicums
500g yellow squash
2 red onions
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp white sugar
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp rosemary leaves
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced. Line a big tray with baking paper.

Cut all of the vegetables into chunks, all roughly the same size if possible. Peel the garlic cloves but leave whole.

In a small bowl mix the sugar and tinned tomatoes together then pour over the vegetables.

Using your fingers work the sauce into every piece. Scatter with rosemary leaves and then drizzle with a little olive oil. Season to taste. Place on the tray.

Place in preheated oven and cook for 2 hours. The vegetables will caramelise and collapse into an aromatic heap. At this point I blend this into a nice smooth sauce but that’s mostly because I’m hiding vegetables from my kids! You could serve it straight from the oven but it does seem to be a little more versatile when converted to ‘pouring’ consistency.

Store in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Notes:

The sauce is also great on pizza bases, tossed through pasta, poured over chicken breasts then baked … or my favourite: partnered up with some herby meatballs and then baked with some cooked penne and lots of grated cheese on top. Its other big bonus is that it ‘hides’ vegetables from fussy little people. You can ( I often do) throw in carrots, zucchini, broccoli and similar and they’ll never know.
Late summer produce is everywhere and so cheap; from tomatoes, etc. as mentioned above to new season apples and pears and the last of the plums, peaches and nectarines.
Some finely chopped fresh chilli is great here but as I’m usually making this for kids, generally just pop a little bowl of it on the table when serving so those who want to can add as they choose.
This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. .