Tomato sauce in all its variations – chunky, smooth, spicy, or even full of veg – is a great way to make the most of fresh, juicy tomatoes. Whether they come fresh from the garden or you're making the most of market bargains, here are some great ways to get saucy (and we've included some tomato jam and chutney ideas too, if you want to change things up).
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Ep 3
Maeve spends the day with a tomato-growing family who have made fresh tomato sauce every day for 45 years
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Maeve spends the day with a tomato-growing family who have made fresh tomato sauce every day for 45 years
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This versatile tomato sauce by Mary Berg, made with cherry tomatoes, is great to have in the freezer. Use for lasagne, as a pasta sauce or anywhere you need quick flavour.
Credit: Mary Makes It Easy
Sadie Chrestman shared this recipe, originally her great-grandmother's, which she and partner Matthew Evans still make today. "My family comes from a property called Newlands in western Victoria. My great-grandma, Annie Macmeikan, passed her recipe down through the family ... This is the sauce we [Matthew and I] call ours, though it does vary slightly from year to year. We like to make it in very large batches to use throughout the year but I've scaled down for the home cook."
Newland's tomato sauce Credit: Alan Benson
"This is a no-waste, happy days tomato sauce," says Simon Toohey of this versatile recipe. Use up that wilted veg or those little bits and pieces left over from other recipes. Adjust the recipe to use the veg and herbs you have on hand. Store in jars in the fridge or keep for longer in air-tight containers in the freezer.
Waste veg tomato sauce. Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey
Sticking with the 'veg it up' theme, here's another version. This recipe from Coin Fassnidge shared on The Cook Up with Adam Liaw, uses a punnet of cherry tomatoes and a jar of passata, along with plenty of veg, to create a rich, comforting pasta meal.
Credit: Adam Liaw
Making your own passata is one of the easiest and simplest ways to preserve summer tomatoes for later use. Try this recipe (pictured below) from Sally Courtney, which adds a touch of garlic and herbs. (Or embrace the Italian summer tradition of bottling tomato sauce with Italian family recipe).
Tomato passata Credit: Petrina Tinslay
"This is a recipe handed down from my grandpa, Steve," explains Nick Haddow. "Celebrating Australia’s love of rhyming slang, my family only ever calls this sauce “dead horse”. I inherited my grandparents’ handwritten cookbook and in it was this recipe, dated 1933 and written in neat copperplate. The original recipe was written in pounds and ounces and was just a list of ingredients and quantities without a method. I usually make this is in a 6-litre batch but you can easily scale the recipe down."
Homemade tomato sauce Credit: Alan Benson
Another recipe from Mary Berg, this flavour-packed ketchup will keep in the fridge for up to a month.
Credit: Mary Makes It Easy
This chunky barbecue sauce will liven up any dish. It’s inspired by a southern US favourite, red-eye gravy, which has black coffee as an ingredient. Here, coffee brings extra flavour to a tomato sauce you can serve on burgers, in wraps or as a dipping sauce.
Chunky red-eye BBQ sauce. Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey
One for those in the 'always sauce with pie' camp: Apple, red wine, soy sauce and mustard give this easy tomato sauce extra flavour, in a recipe from Adam Liaw.
Red wine and tomato sauce. Credit: Adam and Poh's Great Australian Bites
Looking for more ways to preserve summer tomato bounty? Try these chutneys and jams.
SPREAD AND DOLLOP
Green tomato chutney
Or these dishes with more inventive sauce ideas:
