Sicilian Tomato Sauce with a Horopito Twist

Nothing beats a good home-made tomato sauce and the smell in the kitchen as it’s cooking is just fantastic.

In this recipe, I have added native Horopito leaf that have been ground and added to natural salt and other seasonings. New Zealand Horopito brings a wonderful finish to sauces, slow cooking, marinades, roasted meats and vegetables, wild game, seafood and lots more.

You can use this as a base on pizza, with meatballs, as a dipping sauce and in your general cooking.

Ingredients

1 tsp Rhayne Horopito Wild Herb Seasoning, split into ½ tsp lots

800g (2lb) can of crushed tomatoes

1 medium–large onion, diced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3–5 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat of a knife and sliced thinly

1 cup chopped fresh basil

¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary

¼ cup chopped fresh oregano

½ cup red wine

4 bay leaves

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

200g (4oz) tomato puree

½ cup fresh Italian parsley

Method

Sauté onion in olive oil and simmer over low heat, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, basil, rosemary and oregano and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes or so. Uncover and add wine and bay leaves.

Continue simmering until the mixture has reduced by about half. This should take about 30–45 minutes.

Add tomatoes, chicken/vegetable stock, ½ tsp Rhayne Horopito Wild Herb Seasoning, purée and simmer for 1 hour. You can reduce the sauce further and intensify the flavour by simmering over a low heat for another 2 hours. I have let the sauce simmer for up to 4 hours when I want to develop the taste.

When ready, remove the pot from the heat and taste. Season with the other ½ of the Horopito Wild Herb Seasoning to taste and serve with fresh chopped Italian parsley can be added at the end.

Recipe provided by Jimmy Boswell