This sauce is nothing extraordinary, but it's a good base for a lot of other sauces and dishes.
Olive Oil as needed
½ cup diced onions
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced mushroom
3 cloves minced garlic
¼ cup red wine (If I hear anything about ANY member of this forum buying "cooking wine" from the grocery store, I will personally ban you. Most liquor stores sell 210 ml bottles of wine if you're just interested in getting enough to cook with)
2 cups diced Roma/Plum tomatoes (everything but the stem and sticker)
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp either fresh chopped basil or dried oregano
1 tbsp sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
- Sweat the onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until the onions turn translucent. Add the red wine and let it reduce a little.
-Add the tomatoes, sugar, bay leaf and thyme. Simmer for about 15 minutes (until the carrots are cooked through.) If there isn’t enough liquid to just cover the veg & tomato, add a little tomato juice, red wine or chicken broth. Once the sauce is cooked, pureé it with an immersion blender. If all you have is a stationary blender, let the sauce cool to room temperature before blending so it doesn’t explode. If you have neither, cut the vegetables small before you cook them to make it easier to eat.