As soon as it's warm and tomatoes are abundant, I crave for some pasta with a red sauce made from scratch. What is bought on supermarket shelves just doesn't compare to homemade sauce, which is full-bodied and much more flavourful. It's also definitely healthier, having no preservatives and artificial colouring.

What I do is cook up a batch of thick sauce, almost to paste-like consistency and thin it out as needed. I use the sauce mainly for pasta, soups and stews. The paste can also be used for pizza. Tomato sauce is best used fresh but for future use, you can freeze it in small containers for at least a month.

Below is a quick and easy recipe. It is the most basic and can be customised by adding chopped herbs such as basil, thyme, marjoram or whatever one wishes.

Tomato Sauce

500 grams tomatoes
1 medium onion
1/2 head garlic
bay leaf
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups vegetable stock or water

Peel and de-seed tomatoes, chop. Crush the garlic until very fine. The onion should also be finely chopped.

In a pot or deep pan, heat oil and then fry the onion till soft and transparent, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Combine the chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and bay leaf then on very low fire, simmer for around 10 minutes. Stir the mixture now and then to prevent it from sticking. Pour in the vegetable stock or water. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Remove the cooking vessel from heat and set aside till cool. Puree in a food processor or run through a sieve. Return to heat and reduce till it reaches desired thickness.