lamb salad with twice tomato sauce

Leftover roast lamb, a tomato, and a few salad leaves. I looked around the kitchen, wondering how I could possibly turn this into a meal. Ant is much more likely than me to turn to take-away food when the cupboards are looking bare. But I was determined. Surely there's a meal here somewhere, I thought. I had one small onion, which I sauteed with one carrot. Then I added the lamb pieces to warm them through. In the end, though, it was the sauce that turned this into a meal--a meal that felt like a real main dish.


I spread thick drops of dark red sauce generously over the warm salad. By using the one fresh tomato and a few sun-dried tomatoes, the sauce had a deep tomatoey flavour that brought the salad together.

Twice Tomato Sauce (or Dressing)
makes 1 1/2 cups

1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
4 sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 c chopped fresh basil (or 2 t dried basil)
1/2 t salt
1/4 c to 1/2 c (75 mL to 125 mL) water

Combine all the ingredients except the water in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Add the water, a few tablespoons at a time, until a thick, but pourable, sauce is formed.

It would be easy to make this a bit more thin for use as a more conventional salad dressing. Just add a little more water (or some olive oil) in the last step.