What do I do with passata?

[smurfgirl]

I bought some from Lidl and I am not entirely sure what to do with it.

Can I put it in a bolognaise sauce? In home made pasta sauce? What else?

Yes perfect for bolognese sauce.

I just use it in place of tinned tomatoes

makes great base for pizza topping

Its basically sieved tomatoes, so anything sauce you would put tomatoes in.
Lidl is fab isn't it? I have just bought loads and loads of chinese cooking ingredients for next to nothing. Stem Ginger cookies? Bring 'em on!

Put whatever you like in it - I use various cominations of the following: ground chillies, sliced mushrooms, lightly steamed chopped peppers, fried chopped garlic/onions/shallots, black pepper, tbsp olive oil, dash lemon juice and a load of fresh basil in it. You can then use it as a pasta sauce/pizza topping, or make risotto with it, or spread it over cooked chicken breasts/potato skins/fish and top with cheese and grill...

It's great stuff, you can do all sorts of things with it.

Water it down a bit, throw in a nadful of basil, belnd heat, very cheap tomato and basil soup

Add basil, oregano and garlic - perfect pizza sauce. I make a big load, then freeze it in portions.

If summer ever returns you could make Gazpacho too, I love the stuff.
It's good at barbecues with a little Tabasco sauce and Vodka in it!

1 stalk celery
1 red pepper (ca. 300 g)
1 yellow papper (ca. 300 g)
500 g cucumber (peeled)
6 spring onions
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
150 g tomatoes
2 tbsp passata (thick tomato sauce)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
generous dash of tabasco (to taste)
chopped chives (to decorate, optional)

Work all vegetables in a food processor until very finely chopped. Put in a blender with the liquid ingredients and process until completely smooth. Add water or a very light soup stock until reaching the required consistency - if eating as a chilled soup, add ca. 100 ml, for shots, you might need 250-300 ml.
If serving as a soup, serve with garlic croutons or a freshly baked ciabatta.
For shots, try decorating them shots with come chives or serve with a thin stick of celery or cucumber as a stirrer.

I use it to make pasta sauce for meatballs from Nigella.