Jamie Oliver's Tomato Sauce

Jamie Oliver has been doing guest spots in Parenting Magazine, which I've been getting for 4 years and have never paid for (maybe if you have more kids than hands you get a free lifetime subscription?).  Last month he featured his veggie-filled tomato sauce, which looked wonderful.  Now, I'm not a fan of hiding veggies in food (Black bean brownies?  No thanks!  Just give the kids beans, for Pete's sake!), but this seemed like a delicious and decidedly non-sneaky way to get some extra veg in.  I immediately made up a batch but, unfortunately, we didn't like it.  At all.  Far too much red pepper flavor and not enough tomato for us.  The dog, however, loved it, after it was flung from the table with great force by the twins, at the same time, too quickly for me to catch their plates.  A second batch was much better received.  The original recipe calls for 2 bell peppers, which I've eliminated, and I've made a few other variations noted below.  In addition to spaghetti, we've used it on pizza, Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Spinach and Goat Cheese, and in a baked pasta-cheese-deliciousness I concocted the other night.  I think I'll also try it as a tomato soup (thinned with broth), and with ground meat for a lasagna.  In other words, it's versatile.  Final verdict?  I'll be making a batch every couple of weeks!

Ingredients

• 2 small onions, peeled and diced
• 1 leek, thoroughly washed and sliced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 carrots, grated (I use a food processor for all this grating)
• 2 zucchini, grated (or use broccoli stems!)
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and grated
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 14.5 oz cans plum tomatoes, with juice
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1 t sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1) In very large saucepan, heat olive oil and add veggies, oregano, and bay leaves.  Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes with the lid on, or until veggies are soft but not starting to brown.

2) Add tomatoes with juice, water, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

4) Spoon out bay leaves and blitz with stick blender until smooth.

Makes approximately 13 cups.  You can freeze the extra in quart-sized freezer bags (lay flat so they store well), or can the extra in hot, sterilized jars (tomatoes are acidic so you can just do hot sauce + hot jars).