Roasted Marinara

I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier today. I had a lot of homework, and had kind of a rough day today. The up-side of my day is that I had a professor ask me today if I was graduating this May (I wish!), because he needs one of his students who is also an honours student to have dinner with him and the president (and whomever else I didn't hear about) of the school and he was going to ask me to go if I was graduating (for whatever reason, said honours student has to be graduating next month). But uh... yeah. Rough day.

Anyway, this is my favourite of all the marinaras I make. It is simple, it has a wider nutritional profile because you're getting lots of coloured veggies and such, it takes almost no work to make, and it is really, really delicious. Roasting the veggies brings out a nice sweetness to contrast the unroasted garlic and such. You should make it. I don't normally chatter on about a recipe, but it's bed-time, so that's what you get. I love this sauce as much as I love that wheat salad.

1 yellow onion, sliced
1 large yellow squash, cut into sticks
1 medium tomato, sliced
.25 pound carrot, cut into sticks
4 stalks celery, cut into sticks
1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper
1 T balsamic vinegar
2-3 T olive oil
1 large red bell pepper (when these are out of season, I buy the cheaper green ones instead)
5 cloves garlic
15 oz can tomato sauce

Take vegetables of first group and lay on a foil lined sheet pan. Sprinkle S&P, then drizzle w/ oil and vinegar. Roast for 15 minutes on 350 degrees.

On stovetop, roast bell pepper*, then chop. Add roasted veggies and garlic to a food processor or blender. Pulse until grainy. Add tomato sauce and blend. Transfer sauce to medium saucepan, heat on low heat until sauce boils and thickens slightly.

*To do this, if you're not sure what I'm talking about, turn on burner, allow to heat up (or if you're blessed with a gas stove, I'm jealous of you, but just turn on the flame). Lay bell pepper on the burner, and turn it periodically [whenever that part of the skin is charred]. When it's blackened, turn off burner and put the pepper in a bowl. Cover the bowl w/ lid, towel, t-shirt, whatever is handy and clean. Let the pepper sit 5-10 minutes, then take out of the bowl. Wash off the charred skin, and pull out insides of pepper. Yay, roasted pepper that is so much faster than doing it in the oven I can't even express it.

Ok, good night!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bergamot Curd

Image
As promised, here is the curd recipe. This is perfect for scones, toast, just to eat, or for an unusual twist on the filling typically used in those little fruit tarts. If bergamots are not available to you, you could always use lemon, Seville orange, sweet types of orange (cut the sugar a bit though), lime, pomello, grapefruit or any other citrus. Enjoy! 9 ounces freshly squeezed bergamot juice 2 tablespoons finely grated zest 1 1/2 cups sugar 6 eggs 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 12 tablespoons butter, cut into 1 tablespoon bits Whisk all but butter into a saucepan. Begin to heat over medium low heat and add all the butter. Whisking periodically, cook until the whisk marks stay in the curd. Pack into sterilised jars (or you can just put this in a jar and put it in the fridge, if you don't want to can it) and process 15 minutes. Makes about 3 cups.
Read more

Gems, Lovely Gems

Image
I actually have a bit more homework than I anticipated, so today I just want to tell you guys about gems. It appears that no one really knows what gems are anymore, but back in the 1800s they were a popular, if heavy, treat. So much so, that many pioneers even found room in their wagons to bring a gem pan. By the early 1900s, gems had fallen out of favour and most people just went with muffins. It's a sad, sad thing, really. Traditionally, gem pans were made from cast iron. You can still find beautiful, old cast iron pans on eBay. In fact, aside from scouring antique shops hopefully (and often fruitlessly), eBay is the only place I know that routinely "carries" them. You can find a proper gem pan for as little as US$5, and I've seen them as much as US$300. You just never really know. My advice, however, is to find one that's shallow, made in the mid-1800s (this is when the pans were really in their prime, quality-wise), and in extremely poor condition. I say to fi
Read more

Lentil, Chick Pea and Eggplant Boil

Image
Sorry for the delay. I actually made this days ago, but due to my busy school schedule (yay! The semester is finally almost over!), I didn't have time until now to post it. I always forget about lentils. I always have them in the house, and like them quite a bit, but most of the time, they don't even exist as an option in my head. I don't know why that is. I've been telling P for a while now I wanted to eat more lentils, so finally I just made some. I also decided to take this as an opportunity to use up some spare veggies laying about. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 anise bulb, sliced 1 small onion, cut into rings 1/2 jalepeno, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil salt to taste 1 cup yellow potato, cubed 2 cups cubed and peeled eggplant 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut into quarters 1 cup lentils 3 - 4 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon each: clove, cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed 1/2 preserved lemon, diced 1 roma tomato, chopped 1 cup mixe
Read more