Marinara "Laura's Salsa"

I use this sauce weekly, it cuts time dramatically because its cooked, and all the herbs have already been added. All it needs is heating, a mince meat of your choice (or no mince if preferred), you can use it when cooking pasta for school/work lunches, portion it and pop it in the freezer, it'll also work fabulously on your next batch of chicken parmigiana, the options are endless. Having a jar of this delicious sauce in the fridge, is a family staple and a cooking hack for the household chef.

Introduction

My mother was a wonderful cook, she lived for it, and if she wasn’t in her kitchen, she was at the Queen Victoria market, gathering ingredients for her next big catering service, cook off. She was always busy, and as a child, I was always watching her, and thank goodness for that, because the woman absolutely never put pen to paper. So this recipe, is “Laura’s Salsa” recipe, from what my memory could recollect.

Ingredients:

• 10 - 14 Roma tomatoes

• 1 tbs oregano

• 1 ½ tsp dried basil

• 1 tsp of thyme

• 1 tsp of rosemary

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tbs tomato paste

• 1 tsp cooking salt

• 1 tsp sugar

• 2 minced garlic cloves

 Note: if using fresh herbs, dice finely or add to a food processor.

Equipment:

• Your favourite pot for boiling the tomatoes

• potato masher or stick blender

• slow cooker

• Knife and chopping board

Note: you can use your slow cooker. Just throw it all in, set on low heat, and allow those herbs to simmer through.

• Herbs: Fresh herbs are the best!, they add so much glorious flavour, if you don’t have herbs in your garden, think about buying fresh herbs, for this recipe to work at it’s full potential.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/72dbbb_581419364581485bb18a89054f836f6d/480p/mp4/file.mp4

1. Boil your Roma tomatoes until the skin starts to split. Drain the water out, allow the tomatoes to cool a little, then peel the skin off

2. Using your potato masher, mash up the tomatoes until you get a chunky, tomato “salsa” consistency. If you prefer a smooth sauce, this is where you use your stick blender.

3. Add your herbs and allow to simmer for no less than 30 minutes. I always throw my batch in my slow cooker to allow it to simmer for an hour or two, but if you don’t have that time, don’t allow it to throw you off, bottle it up after the standard 30 minutes, and allow it to cool down.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve with pasta on a meat-free Monday, or add mince to make a meaty sauce. Fry up some schnitzels to make chicken parmigiana, or add a little to some sautéed onion and capsicums, to make a delicious side for a juicy steak, or chicken breast fillet.

Remember, this sauce will cook further when you cook with it in the future, and even once bottled up, the herbs will come through the tomatoes, especially if you’ve used fresh herbs, so don’t worry if you don’t have time to slow cook, just give it the standard 30 minutes and bottle it up. Please do use a glass storage container, especially if it’s still hot, to keep those horrible nasties away from leaching into your beautiful tomato salsa.

There it is, you did it!, “Laura’s Salsa”, made from scratch, with fresh ingredients and proudly made with love, by you.

I hope you enjoy,

Warm regards,

JenniferWalshxoxo