Marinara sauce (in a slow cooker or on the hob)

In this video, we’re going to make a basic tomato sauce. You’ll be able to use this to make spaghetti bolognese, lasagna or a simple pasta or gnocchi bake. It’s one of those useful things to have in your freezer for when you don’t really feel like cooking.

I’ll show you how to make it in a slow cooker, but you can also make it on the hob.

The prep for this recipe will probably take between 10-15 minutes. If you’re cooking in a slow cooker, the cooking time will be between 4 to 8 hours. On the hob, it will be more like an hour or two.

The ingredients are listed in the video description below. But you can see we have an onion, some garlic, and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Then we have our seasoning, so some tomato puree, butter, basil, oregano, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, and a bit of salt.

All ingredients should be laid out on the surface.

You’ll need a large saucepan with a lid or a slow cooker, a wooden spoon or something to stir with, some measuring spoons, a tin opener, a knife and a chopping board.

All equipment will be laid out ahead of time.

We’ll start by finely chopping the onion and garlic. The goal is to make this as small as you can. Don’t worry though if it isn’t as finely chopped as this. We’re going to cook this for a good long while, so it will reduce a bit.

All the veg will be pre-chopped except for a few bits to use for demonstration.

Well, you can leave these bits bigger or you can always use a blender at the end to smooth everything out.

Now we just add those straight to our slow cooker or pan. This should not be on yet.

Next we add everything else. So the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, the herbs, sugar, balsamic vinegar and butter. And give it all a good stir.

You can add some salt or a low salt alternative now, but you don’t have to. I’m going to add a little salt.

Use measuring spoon

I have! So I’ve just used about a ?? teaspoon. I like to use a measuring spoon because then I know exactly how much I’ve used. And can then reduce how much I add in future if that’s something I’m looking to do with a particular recipe.

Then it’s time to let it cook. On a slow cooker, you can go with a low heat for eight hours or a high heat for four. If you’re cooking it on the hob, I’d heat it up to simmering and then turn it down and cook for at least an hour. Just come in a stir occasionally.

That’s really nice to hear actually. These kinds of “time saving” devices can really be so much more than that for anyone struggling with fatigue or dexterity.

Feel free to come back and taste occasionally as well, that will tell you if you need to add any black pepper or other seasoning.

Once you’ve finished cooking, you can either use it immediately or store it for later. Either pop it into the fridge or the freezer. You can split it up into batches and use it for individual lunches, if that’s something you like to do.

Yeah, it’s a really useful one to have on hand for those days when you just don’t feel like cooking.

I’ve boiled a bit of gnocchi here and I’m just going to stir a couple of spoons of the sauce through. A little cheese on the top and I’ve got a quick hot lunch.