Weekends are for pasta & sauce.
I make a LOT of tomato sauce in the summer, with the intention of freezing it and using it all throughout the winter. However, that doesn’t always happen. I usually end up using all my frozen pesto and tomato sauce before December, ha.
So of course there’s kale in everything now, being that it’s winter time in the northeast. I decided on kale, mushrooms and garlic for our quinoa pasta lunch.
I’ll admit I never use a recipe to make my sauce either…all measurements are approximate!
Olive oil for cooking the onion & garlic
1/4 c yellow onion chopped
8-10 cloves garlic chopped, you could use a whole head of garlic (or two!) and the flavor still wouldn’t be overwhelming since you’ll be cooking it for a while
1 1/2 t dried oregano
1 t sea salt
2 pounds of plum tomatoes, or a can of san marzano tomatoes if you don’t have fresh
1/4 c veggie stock
The tomato skin is not digestible so it’s worth the trouble of removing it before cooking.
Using a sharp knife, draw an X in the bottom of each tomato, gently piercing the skin but not slicing through the tomato flesh.
Drop the tomatoes in a pot of softly boiling water for 10 seconds, quickly remove with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of icy cold water.
Take each tomato out and peel the skin off, starting where you scored each one with the X.
Set your prepared, skinless tomatoes aside.
Heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed, large sauce pan over medium heat.
You want to cover the bottom of the pan with oil, so the garlic and onion won’t burn.
When the oil is up to temperature, add onions.
Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or just until translucent.
Add the garlic.
Sauté for another 4-5 minutes, or until everything is starting to turn golden but NOT brown! Burnt garlic has a terrible, acrid taste. Be careful not to over cook it.
Add your tomatoes, including any juice, oregano, stock and salt.
Lower heat and stir to get everything mixed well.
Use a wooden spoon to mash the tomatoes once they have been cooking for 15-20 minutes and have softened enough.
Cover and cook over low heat for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally and watching to make sure the sauce isn’t burning and getting stuck to the bottom of the pot. You shouldn’t have a problem if you have your sauce on low heat but if you do notice it sticking just remove it from the heat for a few minutes to let it cool.
Taste and add more salt if necessary.
You don’t have to purée your sauce but I like to. I notice that my daughter likes it better that way without the pieces of onion still intact.
Use an immersion blender to smooth your sauce or transfer in batches to a blender.
Do not fill your blender all the way to the top with the hot tomato sauce!! Only full half at a time. Believe me, you don’t need an extra mess to clean up.
Your sauce should be fairly thick after an hour or so of reducing but you can cook it down more if desired.
(It freezes well if you want to double the recipe)
Makes approx. 3 cups.
Eat More Plants. 
Leave a Reply