You needn’t have a Michelin star or be an expert in the kitchen to produce restaurant quality food. A good sauce works for all manner of meals and here Gousto share their top three – and they couldn’t be more simple.
The classic tomato sauce
The most versatile of all the sauces, works well with pretty much everything – and not a jar in sight!
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 table spoon olive oil
- 1 red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 table spoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dry oregano
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 125g chopped tomatoes
- 1 table spoon red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to season
Method
1. Heat a pot with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium heat.
2. Once hot, add the diced red onion with a generous pinch of salt and cook for 5 min or until the onion has softened slightly but not coloured.
3. Once softened, add the chopped garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
4. Add the tomato paste, dried oregano and 1 tsp of sugar and cook for 30 seconds.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, a splash of water and the red wine vinegar, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 10 min until a thick tomato sauce remains.
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The basic béchamel
Despite only having a few ingredients many are put off by making a béchamel due to horror stories of lumpy sauces. The key to this sauce is to keep on stirring and don’t stop until you’ve removed it from the heat.
Serves: 4
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Try this easy béchamel sauce
Quick and easy pesto
This sauce packs and punch and is the quickest of the bunch. Use a mini blender to speed up this recipe even more so, or if you decide to add in pine nuts.
Cooking time: 5-10 minutes
Serves: 2
- 40g fresh basil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 80g hard Italian cheese such as parmesan
- 2-3 table spoons of olive oil
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to season
- 30g toasted pine nuts (optional)
Method:
1. Add the chopped garlic and basil to a mortar and grind them into a coarse paste with the pestle.
2. Grate the cheese directly into the mortar and continue to grind together to make a paste.
3. Drizzle over enough extra virgin olive oil to loosen the mix and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
4. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper – this is your fresh pesto.
Or put all of the ingredients into a mini blender with your toasted pine nuts and hey pesto!
We’ve partnered with Gousto to offer readers £25 off a meal box containing three meals for two people. With 22 different recipes a week to choose from there’s plenty of choice for anyone. To try your first box for just £9.99 click here
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