Sauces are a brilliant way of batch-cooking and filling up the freezer. With a versatile sauce of strong and receptive flavours to extra ingredients be they meat, vegetarian, fish or vegan you can serve a multitude of dishes to the family to suit their likes and diets.
This sauce uses a variety of vegetables and is spiced up with Harissa, which I find I never seem to get to bottom of the jar! One of the many store-cupboard ingredients which sit in the fridge or pantry and can end up getting thrown out!
If you aren’t a vegetable lover or prefer a smooth sauce, then this can be liquidised to make a smooth, healthy and tasty sauce.
It’s also great for using any bits of vegetables sitting in the bottom of the fridge – that sole carrot or bendy courgette can be diced up and added with the green beans or instead of.
It freezes well so I make a bulk batch and put into 2 portion pots.
This can also be used in several different dishes adding an optional extra or leaving it as it is –
- topping for a jacket potato
- add cooked mince and use in a lasagne or as a spicy Bolognaise sauce
- top with mashed potato and sprinkle with grated cheese
- Serve in a pancake and sprinkle with roasted pine nuts
- add extra beans and serve on toast as a different baked beans on toast
There are several options of what can be added to the sauce
- large raw prawns
- chestnut mushrooms, sliced thickly
- marinated tofu cut into bite- size pieces
- diced cooked chicken
- cooked sausages, pork or vegetarian
My favourite is King Prawns……
Haricot, Tomato and Harissa Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 50 g green beans trimmed and chopped into 1cm pieces
- 1 red pepper seeded and chopped into small dice
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp rose harissa paste
- 1 tbsp brown sauce
- 1 vegetable stock cube in 300ml hot water
- 400 g tin haricot beans
- 1 tbsp honey
- Handful of chopped fresh coriander
- Salt and pepper
Optional additions
- 300 g large raw prawns
- 250 g chestnut mushrooms sliced thickly
- 2 x 160g marinated tofu cut into bite- size pieces
- 300 g diced cooked chicken
- 8 x cooked sausages pork or vegetarian
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan.
- Gently fry the onions for 8-10 minutes until softened and starting to brown.
- Stir in the garlic, green beans and red pepper with 2 tbsp water. Cook for a further 8 minutes, until softened stirring occasionally.
- Add the tomatoes, harissa paste, brown sauce and stock. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the haricot beans and honey and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Add the chopped coriander and season.
Notes
- topping for a jacket potato
- add cooked mince and use in a lasagne or as a spicy Bolognaise sauce
- top with mashed potato and sprinkle with grated cheese
- Serve in a pancake and sprinkle with roasted pine nuts
- add extra beans and serve on toast as a different baked beans on toast
