Chunky Veggie Pasta Sauce

This would be a great way to use up any stray vegetables that you have lying around. Sometimes I have the best intentions of using lots of vegetables. But I buy them and unfortunately they sit around in my fridge looking a little dejected, so this is a great way to use them up

Yield; Six servings Cook time; 35-40 minutes

You’ll need;

One tablespoon of oil
Three cloves of garlic, minced
One brown onion, finely diced
Two carrots, peeled and diced
Two sticks of celery, diced
Two peppers, deseeded and diced
300g closed cup mushrooms, diced
Two courgettes, diced
One tablespoon of tomato puree
One 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
One 500g carton of passata
One teaspoon of the following dried herbs; basil, oregano, parsley and tarragon

Method;

Start by preparing the vegetables, it takes a little while but it’s better to have everything ready to go when you need it
Next heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add in the garlic, onion, carrot and celery and allow them to cook for five minutes or so, stirring every now and then
Then add in the peppers, give them a good stir through to combine. Give the mix another five minutes to cook, again stirring every now and then
Then add in the courgette and mushroom, it will look like a lot, but they contain a lot of moisture and will cook down quite a bit. Give them around ten minutes to cook
Next mix the tomato puree and herbs through the vegetables. At this point you can also season to taste with salt and black pepper
Finally add the chopped tomatoes and passata. To make a smoother sauce, I blend the chopped tomatoes with my stick blender, but this is just my personal preference. Give the sauce another ten to fifteen minutes to cook. While this is happening, cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet
Once the pasta is cooked, drain away the water and stir it through the sauce, serve immediately. You can store any leftovers in the fridge, it will keep for up to a week