Recipes  

5 Ways to Turn Homemade Tomato Sauce Into a Delicious Meal

Late summer is the perfect time to make homemade tomato sauce. After all, it’s when the season draws to a close that we’re welcomed with an abundance of ripe and flavourful tomatoes. Take advantage of this seasonal peak to create a rich and versatile sauce that beautifully celebrates the tomato in all its forms.

The secret to a memorable meal begins with a stellar foundation. Before diving into the recipes below, check out our tips for successfully mastering your next batch of tomato sauce:

1. Create a contrast of textures

Breathe new life into your meatballs by placing them in a sandwich and topping them with a crunchy arugula and radicchio salad. To make this textural contrast work, it’s crucial to ensure your tomato sauce isn’t too liquid, so that the crisp bread doesn’t get soggy against the fresh ingredients. Balancing these elements makes it the perfect choice for a quick lunch or a meal that will completely defy expectations.

2. Combine four Italian classics

This recipe alone combines four iconic Italian pasta classics: cacio e pepe for its peppery kick, gricia for the savoury guanciale, carbonara for the rich eggs and pecorino and amatriciana for the vibrant tomato coulis. We even added sausage to the mix! Coat the rigatoni with the sauce to create a rich and creamy blend with a kick that effortlessly breaks the monotony of everyday meals.

3. Balance acid with rich dairy

Gnudi are small and delicate dumplings made from ricotta, Parmesan, flour and herbs that are gently poached. Their irregular shape gives them a distinctly rustic charm, meaning they don’t need to be perfectly round. They’re also sometimes called malfatti, which translates to “badly made.” Served with a classic garlic and red wine tomato sauce, to which a Parmesan rind is added for depth, the acidity of the tomatoes beautifully cuts through the rich dairy, making you feel like you’re eating fluffy little ricotta clouds!

4. Cook it low and slow

Bring a touch of the Mediterranean to your Tuesday dinner with this one-pan recipe. We love chicken drumsticks for their affordability; cook them here in the oven with spicy chorizo, sweet red bell pepper and a rich tomato sauce. Allowing the sauce to slowly simmer and absorb all these deep and complex flavours makes this a simple weeknight meal to add to your permanent rotation. 

5. Layer your ingredients

Is it a tomato pie? A pizza? Thoughts may vary as to the correct term to use for a deep dish pizza, but it’s undoubtedly a dish that’ll impress everyone at the table. The dough is nothing like that of a traditional pizza; it features a biscuit-like low-moisture crust that doesn’t require a lot of time to rise. For structural success, coat the pan generously with oil, which practically fries the dough, and layer it with an impressive amount of provolone and havarti cheeses to waterproof the crust before adding the tomato sauce. Once baked, treat yourself to a large, decadent and gooey slice, using a spatula to remove it.

For more ways to use your seasonal tomatoes, be sure to consult our wide selection of recipes: