About the Recipe
If you have a bit of time to spare, you can make your pasta sauce using plain tomato sauce, instead of using a pre-seasoned off-the-shelf sauce. You can have the sauce be totally vegetarian or add shrimp, chicken or any other meat or seafood that you like in your pasta sauce.
Ingredients
2.3 liters of plain tomato sauce
½ - ¾ sweet red bell pepper (~113 grams), cubed
½ - ¾ sweet green bell pepper (~113 grams), cubed
1 medium sized carrot (~106 grams), diced
1 onion (~180 grams), diced
2 stalks of celery (~144 grams), chopped into 1-2 centimeter chunks
200 grams of Mini-Bella mushrooms, diced
3 cloves of garlic (~31 grams), finely chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried basil
¼ teaspoon of fennel seeds, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon of brown sugar
Salt to taste
Preparation
Pour 2.3 liters of plain tomato sauce in a large saucepot.
Some tomato sauces are very thick and others are more watery. If your tomato sauce is watery, you should simmer it for approximately 50 minutes to thicken it. Otherwise, you can skip this step. Hunt's tomato sauce, for example, is thick enough right out of the can.
Thickening the Tomato Sauce (if necessary)
Bring to a light boil over medium heat then reduce the temperature to simmer.
The idea is to let the tomato sauce slowly concentrate and thicken.
The sauce should be stirred periodically.
Preparing The Sauce
After approximately 50 minutes of simmering, add:
1 medium sized carrot, diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
The carrots and celery take much longer to cook than the other vegetables so it is best to cook on their own for a while.
Let the sauce continue to simmer for approximately 40 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients:
½ - ¾ sweet red bell pepper, cubed
½ - ¾ sweet green bell pepper, cubed
1 onion, diced
200 grams of Mini-Bella mushrooms, diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried basil
¼ teaspoon of fennel seeds, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon of brown sugar
Mix the ingredients into the sauce and let it simmer for approximately 60 more minutes, stirring periodically.
Salt to taste.
Serve on your favorite pasta.
If your diet permits, try my Simulated Ground Beef with your sauce.
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If your diet permits seafood, you can add shrimp to the sauce. Use only peeled and deveined shrimp. It is best to add the shrimp in the final stages of cooking. After adding shrimp, let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes before serving.
