Add the olive oil to a large pan and gently fry the onion until soft.
2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 red onion
Add the peppers, courgette and aubergine and fry for 5 minutes.
1 red pepper, 1 courgette, 1 aubergines
Stir the passata in to the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
500 g passata, 1 dash salt, 1 dash black pepper
Blitz some or all of the sauce together if required. This is a great way to 'hide' the vegetables if you need to, but also gives it a lovely flavour.
Serve with pasta and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Notes
The nutritional information for this recipe is just for the sauce and does not include pasta or any cheese topping.
Ingredients
Passata - (tomato puree in the US) is just strained tomatoes with no seeds or skins. Buy the best quality you can afford. Cheaper versions have a higher water content that will make the sauce thinner.
Aubergines - (eggplant US) look for ones with shiny firm skin
Courgettes - (zucchini US) these should be firm and not too large, around 20cm in length is a good size.
Red Bell Pepper - these add sweetness and also a nice crunchy texture.
Red onion - also known as purple onions they are sweeter than brown onions and are native to Italy.
Olive oil - a good extra virgin olive oil is essential to Italian cooking.
Making a Batch
You only need enough liquid to just cover the vegetables so may not need to double or treble the quantity of passta. When making a batch, I find it easier to cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°C / 360°F / gas mark 4. Place everything in an oven proof dish, cover with a lid and place in the oven.
Storage
Passata pasta sauce will keep in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. It freezes well and will keep for 3 - 4 months. After that time it will still be safe to eat, but over time the quality and texture may change. I freeze this in individual portions in re-used glass jam jars. It can easily be defrosted in the microwave in the glass jar.