Minced Vegetable Pasta Sauce
Chop very finely:
- 2 carrots
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 1/4 lb. mushrooms: 1 portabella or 2 large or 4 small button or
crimini mushrooms
Mince, or press with garlic press:
Mince, and then mash into paste with fork:
Heat a generous quantity of
in a large skillet until just starting to smoke. Add the onions and
garlic. Season them with
- Salt
- Fresh-ground white or black pepper
- Red pepper flakes
to your liking, and cook them in oil over medium-high heat until the
onions start to look shiny and transparent. Then you want to add all of
the other chopped and minced and mashed stuff listed above.
Make sure to mix everything together well, especially the anchovies and
the garlic, which tend to stick together. Turn up the heat to high and
cook all of this together, stirring frequently, until the carrots are
tender. The mushrooms and vegetables will give off some liquid; in
response, you should add a little more oil.
Now once the carrots are tender, mix in:
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 to 2 tbsp. of tomato paste (for consistency)
Mix these in well with the other stuff and cook until the sauce
thickens to a consistency you are happy with. Now, although you may
only have been peripherally aware of it, while you have been working on
this sauce, your trusty sous-chef has been boiling water and cooking
pasta in it, which is just about ready to eat (don't you love how they
do that on cooking shows?); this means that it is time to stir into the
sauce
- 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
and cook them just until they wilt. Then, immediately take the sauce
off the heat, toss it with the pasta, and serve, preferably with garlic
bread.
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Here, inside the extra oven, we have the finished version...
Brian R. Gaeke