Why buy a jar of pasta sauce when you can make your own and control what goes into it! Now that you can make your own pasta, make your own sauce too!

At its most basic, a pasta sauce will contain garlic, onions and chopped tomatoes.

From there you can add your own selection of herbs and vegetables.

To make the beginnings of a pasta sauce, simply heat some olive oil (viva Italia!) in a saucepan.

Peel and finely chop both the garlic and the onion and add them to the pan.

Once they begin to brown, add the chopped tomatoes (about 1.5kg (3 lb) per onion/garlic clove).

Allow to simmer so that the excess tomato juice boils away.

That is a very simple pasta sauce.

To add vegetables, chop them and add them before the tomatoes.

To add herbs, chop them and add them after the tomatoes.

Tomato sauce recipe:

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, scraped and grated
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
1 tbsp freshly chopped basil
1 bay leaf
1.5 kg (3 lb) chopped tomatoes

Throw all the ingredients into a pan as described above, and you have your very own quality pasta sauce!

If you find the sauce a little on the chunky side, use a blender and sieve to create a smooth sauce.