Hidden Veg Tomato Sauce

This is a great way of getting vegetables into unsuspecting teenagers!!  It makes a great base for pizza or sauce for pasta.  Recipe is from Annabel Karmel.  Wish I'd had her books when Samuel was little.

Hidden Veg Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

100g/4oz carrots, peeled and grated

50g/2oz courgette, grated

50g/2oz button mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

400g/14oz passata (ready-sieved tomatoes)

1 teaspoon soft brown sugar

1 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 400ml (2/3 pint) boiling water

handful fresh basil leaves

salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the crushed garlic and sauté for a few seconds then add the onion and sauté for a further 2 minutes. Add the carrots, courgettes and mushrooms and sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for one minute. Stir in the passata and sugar, cover and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the basil and season to taste. Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth.

The added advantage of this recipe is that it seems to work out okay on approximate timings, if you forget to set a timer (that would be me who constantly forgets to set the timer ...). Also, I should think it would work the same on any other combination of veg.