A pan of sauce that earns its keep

On a drizzly Tuesday in November, the sort of evening where the kitchen windows steam up and nobody wants to go out again for a missing ingredient, a tub of homemade tomato sauce in the freezer is worth more than any takeaway. One long session at the hob, roughly an hour of your time, gives you the base for pasta, pizza, baked eggs, a quick braise for sausages, or a tray of roasted aubergine. It costs less than the jars, tastes considerably better, and you decide how much salt and sugar goes in.

This isn't a precious recipe. It's a template, and it's forgiving. Get the proportions roughly right, taste as you go, and you'll have something you can rely on all winter.

What goes into a good batch

This makes about 1.5 litres of sauce, which is six generous portions for two people.

• 3 tbsp olive oil, or half oil and half butter
• 2 onions, finely chopped, or 1 onion and 1 carrot grated into the pan
• 6 to 8 garlic cloves, sliced thinly rather than crushed
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes, or 2 tins plus 500ml passata
• 1 tsp dried oregano, and 1 tsp dried basil if you keep it
• 1 tsp caster sugar, only if the tomatoes taste sharp
• A parmesan rind, if you have one lurking in the fridge
• A knob of butter or a glug of good olive oil, added at the end

Chopped tomatoes give a chunkier sauce; passata gives a smoother one. In late summer, when tomatoes are worth eating, use about 2kg of ripe ones, halved and blitzed, and reduce the simmering time accordingly.

The method, step by step

Warm the oil in your widest, heaviest pan. A large sauté pan or a preserving pan is ideal, because a wide surface means faster evaporation and a thicker sauce. Add the onions with a good pinch of salt and cook over a low to medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until soft and translucent but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for just one minute. Burnt garlic will make the whole pan bitter, so keep it moving.

Stir in the tomato purée and cook it for a minute or two. This takes the raw, tinny edge off it. Tip in the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands or a wooden spoon if they're whole. Add the dried herbs, the parmesan rind if you're using one, and about 200ml of water swirled around one of the tins.

Bring everything to a gentle simmer, then turn the heat as low as it will go and leave it for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so. It's ready when it's thickened, glossy, and you can see the oil starting to separate slightly at the edges. If it's spitting everywhere, part-cover it with a lid, leaving a gap for steam to escape.

Now taste it properly. Add salt and black pepper, a pinch of sugar if it's sharp, or a splash of red wine vinegar if it tastes flat and dull. Fish out the parmesan rind. Off the heat, stir in a knob of butter or a tablespoon of olive oil, then tear in a handful of basil if you have any.

Cooling and freezing in portions

Don't put a hot pan of sauce straight into the freezer, and don't seal it into a tub while it's still steaming. Spread it into a wide dish, or sit the pan in a sink of cold water, and stir now and then. It should be cool within 90 minutes.

A portion of about 250ml does two people for a pasta main, so your batch will give you roughly six.

• Freezer bags: ladle 250ml into a bag, flatten it, squeeze the air out and seal. Freeze flat on a tray, then stack the bags upright like files. This is the most space-efficient method by far.
• Tubs: reusable 250ml to 500ml tubs are the simplest option, and you can move them straight from fridge to freezer.
• Ice cube trays: good for small amounts. A cube or two stirred into a soup, a single portion of pasta, or a pan of beans.
• Tray method: pour into a lined roasting tray, freeze solid, then chop into blocks and bag them. Useful when you've ended up with an awkward amount.

Label everything with the date. It keeps for three months, though it's at its best within six to eight weeks. In the fridge, use it within three to four days. Defrost overnight in the fridge, or drop the bag into a bowl of cold water if you've forgotten, then warm it gently in a pan with a splash of water.

Beyond pasta night

• Pizza: defrost and reduce a little further so it doesn't make the base soggy, then spread thinly.
• Baked eggs: bubble 200ml in a small ovenproof dish, make two wells, crack in the eggs and bake at 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6) for 8 to 10 minutes. Toast for dipping.
• Sausage traybake: use it as a braising sauce with peppers, onions and a splash of stock.
• Soup: loosen with stock, add a tin of white beans and a handful of greens.
• Fish: spoon over a fillet, bake for 12 minutes, finish with parsley and lemon zest.

Small details that make a difference

Buy the best tins you can reasonably afford. The gap between a cheap tin and a good one is genuinely noticeable when tomatoes are the whole dish, and a sauce you'll eat all winter is worth the extra 40p. Don't rush the onions, and don't rush the simmer. A sauce cooked for 20 minutes is perfectly fine; one cooked for an hour is memorable.

If you have a glut of tomatoes, halve them, toss with garlic, oil and salt, roast for 40 minutes and mash roughly. It's sweeter and more intense, and it freezes just as well.

One last habit worth building: keep a portion right at the front of the freezer, where you can reach it without digging. That's the one that saves you on the nights you need it most.