Mark Hix recipe: A simple tomato sauce

Serves 6-8

Spaghetti with Mark's tomato sauce (Jason Lowe)

This is a great sauce to keep in the freezer for pasta, gnocchi, meatballs or a simple sauce to go with fish or meat. If you freeze it in zipped bags flat on a tray it will defrost quickly in some warm water. You can add chilli to this to spice it up for an arrabbiata sauce or add capers for a puttanesca-type sauce.

4-5tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped
2tsp tomato purée
400g can of good-quality chopped tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250ml vegetable stock >

Gently cook the onion and garlic in the oil for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and stock, season, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water if the sauce is getting too thick.