Pasta with Hidden Veg Tomato Sauce
Do you have a veggie hating family member or child? Try out this delicious pasta recipe with a special secret vegetable tomato sauce.
INGREDIENTS
50ml oil
1 medium white onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 large carrot
1 courgette
2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
200ml water
1 tsp sugar (optional)
Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
320g pasta
METHOD
1. Prepare all your vegetables first. Using a standard box grater, grate the onion, carrot and courgette. Make sure to keep the onion separate. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. The idea here is to get the vegetables as small as we possibly can so a fussy eater will not see big chunks of veg in the sauce.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and fry for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and fry for a minute before adding the carrot and courgette. Cook on medium to low heat for 5 minutes until the veg start to soften.
4. Pour in the chopped tomatoes, water, salt, pepper and sugar (if using). Give it a stir and bring to the boil.
5. Let it simmer on low heat for a good 40 to 45 min or until the veg are soft.
6. Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta following the manufacturer’s instructions.
7. Add the finely chopped basil to the sauce and give it a good stir. Taste the sauce at this stage to see if it needs more seasoning and to make sure the vegetables are cooked. The trick with this sauce (besides getting the veg as small as possible) is to make sure that the vegetables are very soft so fussy eaters will not notice a lot of different textures.
8. Add the drained pasta to the sauce, mix it together and then serve.
SUGGESTIONS
If bits of green are a no go for your fussy eater, I would recommend to peel the courgette before you grate it.
You can add any other veg that you like, grated mushrooms and aubergines work well and finely diced peppers too. Keep the stalks of your broccoli and cauliflower, grate them, and add them to the sauce. Excellent way to cut down on your food waste.
If you have a hand blender or food processor then the sky is the limit with this recipe. You can use any type of veg. You will not need to grate everything, just roughly chop the vegetables and then after step seven just remove from the heat and blend until smooth. Be careful not splash while blending it as it will be hot and could burn you if it lands in your skin.