My son is such a monkey. Over the past few months he has smeared choc ices into my sofa, taken his nappy off and weed in various places, thrown food when he thinks I am not looking ... the list goes on ..
However naughty he is he has a knack of saying the right thing at the right moment and all is forgiven ... Today he decided to decorate his hair and quite a bit of my kitchen with the left over tomato sauce from lunch ... It was on the side ready to go in the fridge when he pushed a chair over, climbed up and and got to work ...
After their bathtime I changed ... I am not looking my best ... tracky bums, hair that needs a wash, no make up ... definite bags under the eyes from two late nights ... I think you get the picture.
A now clean Charlie ran up to me, in his clean pj's, demanded a hug and said “your beautiful mummy” ... bliss ... all is forgiven.
Here is the sauce I made ... it is great for children's lunch or tea ...
CHILDREN'S RED PASTA SAUCE - Makes approx 1 litre
Ingredients for sauce
1 Medium onion, 2 Cloves of garlic (finely grated), 800g Chopped tinned tomatoes, 1 Teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 Teaspoon of Vegetable stock (bouillon powder), 3 Handfuls of petit pois frozen peas, 6-8 Large basil leaves, 2 Tablespoons of Ricotta, 25g Grated Cheddar, Salt and pepper
- Chop the onion and place in saucepan with some olive oil, cook for a couple of minutes on medium heat till the onion is soft
- Add the garlic and stir for a minute
- Pour in the tinned tomatoes and add the sugar and vegtable stock.
- Simmer for 10 minutes
- Stir in the peas and cook for a further two minutes then add the basil
- After you have mixed in the basil blend the sauce, i use a hand held blender and blend in the saucepan, once blended mix in the Ricotta and Cheddar
- Stir the sauce into pasta and sprinkle with more Cheddar
Cooking notes
You need to blend this sauce throughly.
I would serve about 150ml of the sauce on a small child size (my children and 2-3) portion of pasta ... so this should feed about 6-8 children ... because I make this for young children it is not as strong as other pasta sauces ... if you like strong flavors you might find this a little bland.
Adapting
You can change the cheese to what you have in the fridge. Cream Fraiche also works really well in place of the Ricotta.
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