Chorizo Sauce

This is the kind of sauce i often have kicking around the freezer at home, frozen in little ice cube trays, so the Mrs. always has something to use for pasta sauce, risotto sauce, pizza sauce, chicken sauce... It's a general life-saver!

Ingredients:

2 onions - peeled and diced
2 carrots - peeled and diced
2 sticks of celery - diced
2 heaped tblspn tomato puree
1 bottle of white wine
1 pint of chicken stock
2 bayleaves
a sprig of thyme
4 cloves of garlic - peeled and crushed
1 tspn salt
a pinch of chilli flakes
a handful of basil and parsley stalks
1 lb of chorizo - peeled and finely diced
3 tblspn olive oil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the vegetables. Cook until they begin to color then add the tomato puree.

2. Increase the heat and cook until the mixture begins to catch (not burn!) on the bottom of the pan then add half of the wine. Scrape up the crusty bits and simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Again, cook until the mixture begins to catch then add the remaining wine.

3. Add the stock, bayleaves, herbs, garlic, chilli and salt and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Pour the sauce through a sieve set over a pan and, using a ladel, squeeze the vegetables to extract every last bit of juice. Stir in the chorizo and simmer for five minutes. Cool then chill.