Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce + 6 Tips for Work Week Meal Prep

For me, the most exciting part of work days, can be food. If I have something for lunch that I’m not looking forward to, it can make a bad day seem so much worse. I really like to be prepared and make things for work week lunches that I will enjoy eating and not make me cave and go buy something I shouldn’t. 

This chunky tomato sauce is staple for work week lunch prep for me. I have been making it consistently for the past year, and I am still not sick of it. I love tomatoes, and I have found so many uses for this sauce I never tire of it. For a work week lunch I will pair it with pasta or quinoa, add some extra basil, parmesan cheese and maybe some prosciutto and I have a meal I really look forward to eating. I can prepare a few portions of this in advance, and have it ready in the fridge to take to work in the mornings. 

I have also found this sauce is great for:

• Pizza bases, just spread a thin layer over the base and then add any toppings you fancy
• Adding to scrambled eggs
• Using as a dip
• Adding to open toasted sandwiches and bruschetta
• As a substitute for a relish with things like frittatas
• And of course, using it as the best homemade pasta sauce you’ve ever had is really number one on the list. 

This recipe is a quicker adaptation to this one I posted quite a while ago. I needed it to be quicker as even though I like cooking, I don’t want to spend all my time preparing for the work week. I tend to use whatever tomatoes are cheapest to buy, like the ‘imperfect picks’ or the ones that are quite ripe and ready for a quick sale. Once the sauce is cooked I store it in large glass jars in the fridge (like the ones pictured in this post). 

Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce

And as I have had many questions over the year about bringing food to work and how to go about it, below are some of my tips. I have also included a list of other recipes (all of which can be found in the recipe archive) I utilise most weeks to ensure I am super prepared with lots of good food to enjoy. 

6 Tips for Work Week Meal Prep

1. Be Prepared

Spend some time working out what meals you want to make and what you need for each. Write a shopping list and work out which shops you need to go to. Prepare what you can in advance (i.e. things that can be frozen).

2. Utilise Your Freezer

Lots of meals either partially prepared or fully cooked can be frozen into portions and defrosted as you need them. Find some freezer safe containers and label them with the contents and date prepared. 

3. Have Some Good Storage Jars & Containers

Along with some good freezer safe containers, get some good reusable containers or large jars to store pantry staples, and other condiments and sauces you could make from scratch. Also get a couple of small/medium containers to take your lunch to work in.

4. Cook What You Like to Eat

Start with recipes and meal ideas you actually want to eat. If not buying lunch everyday is a new thing for you, don’t bother planning and prepping meals that you think you ‘should’ eat but probably won’t when it comes down to it. Prepare food that will satisfy you, and that you will maybe even look forward to eating.

5. Make It Fun

Hate food shopping? Make it more interesting by going to a market and getting some fresh produce there. This can also double as an enjoyable morning out on the weekend. You are also then buying fresh and local produce, and getting in touch with the seasonality of food and who produces it. Alternatively you could be super organised and buy your food online and save time. 

6. Always Cater For Leftovers

This is especially important on the weekends when you might have time to cook a little more. Cater for 1-2 more people than you are actually serving, especially if it’s something that will freeze or keep well and you would like to eat again. Cooked meats can be used in sandwiches and salads, and left over roast vegetables can make great additions to frittatas.

Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce

Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce

1.5-2kg tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, crushed

50g baby capers

45g anchovies in oil*

olive oil

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 bunch basil, leaves only, roughly chopped

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Have two deep baking dishes ready, I use two enamel ones that are approx. 28 x 20cm. 

Slice up the tomatoes into 1cm slices and divide between the two pans. If using small or cherry tomatoes, cut some in half and pierce really small ones with a knife. 

Divide the garlic and capers between the two pans. Drain the anchovies over the pans, allowing the oil to drizzle over the tomatoes. Roughly chop the anchovies and add some to each pan. Drizzle more oil over each pan, about 1/2 tbsp for each. 

Toss the contents of each pan to combine, then place in the oven. Cook for about 1 hour, checking and moving the tomatoes around in the pan every 20 minutes. Cook time for cherry tomatoes will be less, so keep an eye on them if using. 

The sauce will be ready when the tomatoes have cooked down, softened and there is some liquid from the tomatoes still in the pan. 

Remove from the oven and transfer all the tomatoes into one of the pans. Stir in the tomato paste and basil. Use immediately or allow to cool in the pans and transfer to large glass jars to store in the fridge until needed. 

Keeps in the fridge for about 10 days. 

* Yes I know, you don't like anchovies! Leave them out if you wish, however cutting them finely will help them dissolve away into the sauce and give the sauce a gentle touch of saltiness. 

Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce

Homemade Chunky Tomato Sauce

Shallow Fried Zucchini Flowers & Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

These two recipes to me, scream Winter comfort food. I have made the Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce numerous times recently. The original recipe, from the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s second book ‘The Feast Goes On’, says the sauce is enough to feed six. I find when mixed with cooked pasta (any kind will do!), I can feed three or four for dinner then still have enough leftovers for three lunches. This kind of cooking makes the organised side of me very happy. Good dinner? Check! Lunch for work sorted? Check! 

When I made this pasta dish over the June long weekend, I was secretly patting myself on the back. Not only was I going to be able to feed five people at home that weekend, I might even have some leftovers for lunch the next day. Winning, right?! 

I forgot however, to take into account that my brother, who was staying that weekend, eats enough food for like two people per meal. So, no leftovers for me. And even if there were some, the likelihood of them being eaten by said brother for breakfast (yes, breakfast) the next morning would have been quite high. 

If you do make the sauce and happen to have leftovers, it will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. 

These two recipes served in the same evening, make for a great Italian style feast. I would cook the tomato sauce before, make and serve the zucchini flowers as they were ready then, cook some pasta, warm up the sauce and serve that as the main for the meal. 

A note on the zucchini flowers: The recipe for the batter can easily be doubled if you are cooking more. The zucchini flowers should be served immediately after cooking, as they are not quite the same when re-heated. 

Shallow Fried Zucchini Flowers

Ingredients: 

8 zucchini flowers 

1 ball buffalo mozzarella 

Handful basil leaves, shredded

¼ cup grana padano (or parmesan) cheese, grated 

Ingredients for the Batter: 

100g self raising flour

¾ cup ice cold water

Pinch of salt 

Vegetable oil, for frying 

Method: 

Wash and dry zucchini flowers, ensuring the insides of the flowers are free from any residual dirt and the stamens have been removed. 

Mix the basil and grated cheese together. Tear pieces off the buffalo mozzarella and use to stuff the flowers. Add some of the basil and grated cheese and twist the top of the flowers to seal. 

Prepare the batter only just before it is needed. 

To prepare the batter, gently whisk all the ingredients together with a fork (the mixture will be lumpy). 

Heat a shallow fry pan with some vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Coat the flowers in the batter, then place one at a time (or three or so at a time if using a larger pan), and allow to cook for 1 minute or so on each side. Ensure all of the batter has cooked. 

Place on paper towel to drain any excess oil after cooking, and serve immediately. 

Recipe Adapted from ‘Maggie’s Harvest’ by Maggie Beer (Penguin Group, 2007), pp. 182-3. 

Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

2kg very ripe tomatoes 

x 2 large red onions

x 2 cloves garlic

200g dried black olives 

¼ cup capers, drained 

8 anchovy fillets, chopped 

Olive oil 

3 tbsp tomato paste 

½ cup grated parmesan cheese 

1 bunch basil (leaves only), chopped 

Method: 

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Drizzle some olive oil between two large baking trays. Roughly slice the tomatoes (approximately 1 cm slices), and divide between the two trays. Slice the onion and place one onion in each tray. Divide the black olives, capers and anchovies between the two trays. Drizzle with more olive oil crush one garlic clove over each tray, then toss all the ingredients to coat. 

Reduce the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and place both baking trays in the oven. Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Cook until the tomatoes and onions have softened and reduced, and there is still some liquid left in the trays. 

Remove from oven and combine the two trays into one. Stir through the tomato paste, parmesan and basil. 

Serve with freshly cooked pasta, topped with a little extra basil and grated parmesan. 

Reference: ‘The Monday Morning Cooking Club: The Feast Goes On’ by Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Paula Horwitz & Jacqui Israel (HarperCollins Publishers, 2014), p.74.