I am vegan and proud of it. I also realize though that many people still look upon vegan food as colorful glop or plates of sticks and grass lol. This is changing a lot every year. Restaurants, food trucks, grocery stores, are all carrying food geared towards vegans that non vegans are finding more and more delicious.
Many of us, create our own recipes. I went vegan when I was 13, with the support of my families, and with conditions to prove I was serious about it. One of those was I had to cook dinner twice a week. Once at my Bio-mom and Step-dads house, and once at my Bio-dad and Step-moms house. So I needed to learn to cook. I was taught by my freaking awesome Japanese and French grandmothers. (No my bio mom, nor step mom never learned lol but both Dads are amazing). My grandmothers, (Both are still actively terrorizing humanity still) taught me a wide variety of cooking styles. Japanese, French, Middle Eastern, African, Sicilian, and more. I’ll always be thankful for that. So whenever I can, I like to pass along what they taught me in the form of recipes I have put together myself. Some, like my sauce, there are a million variations and everyone thinks theirs is the correct one. There is no “correct one”, there is only the one you like. If you like mine, great, if not, well there are 999,999 others out there to try.
Now….on to the sauce!
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Kayla’s Homemade Basil Marinara
About 5 lbs. tomatoes for a quart of sauce or 10 to 12 whole tomatoes equal like a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes. If you are using Roma tomatoes, you will need to add about 4 to the number used due to size compared to the “regular” tomato you find in stores since they are usually bigger. But Romas have a much better flavor and texture for cooking down.
I prefer fresh tomatoes, so my recipe centers around them. This recipe makes almost a quart, which for me alone, is about 2 to 3 meals depending on what I use it on.
14 Roma tomatoes, no need to core just carefully dig out the small center part where the calyx was attached to the tomato. This way you use the whole tomato.
1 ‐ sweet (I use Walla Walla) onion, medium sized.
5‐6 garlic cloves (or to taste, but be careful as the garlic can over power the basil.)
1‐2 Medium sized Carrots (I know wtf right?) Carrots add texture and sweetness, if you blend them instead of dicing, they add a creaminess.
1 cup (or to taste, I LOVE basil) of fresh basil torn not chopped, and packed into cup.
Do not use dry as it is bitter compared to the fresh. Tearing releases the flavor better than cutting.
1/2 tsp pink sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 freshly cracked black pepper
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Tomatoes; you can do these two ways.
The heating or rendering, whichever way you choose is important to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes.
If you chop or mince the tomatoes, heat a Dutch oven or pan and put them in and let them render down on their own. I let them render on low/medium for about a 30 minutes. Stirring them, but this way they will get the consistency of canned just with more flavor.(I find this way imparts more flavor.)
You can puree the tomatoes like a soup before heating, but it will be to watery in texture so you will have to use a thickening agent like flour, starch or agar.
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Heat your frying pan/skillet on MEDIUM.
I use a very old well cured cast iron one from a set my grandmother gave me for all my veggies. I find cast iron just seems to bring out the flavor more then say a Teflon pan when sautéing veggies. I use a tiny bit (1/2 tsp.) of olive oil (there are a variety of types from normal to extra virgin light. I have them all but when sautéing, I use just plain dark olive oil as it adds a little bit of flavor especially when making sauces like this) in the pan.
CHOP the onion (larger pieces, about a 1/4″ to 1/2″ across.)
FINELY the carrot (Much smaller pieces, 1/8″ or skip this if you have pureed them, but cooking them like this imparts more flavor)
CRUSH the garlic. (Please use a hand garlic press NOT the side of a knife for safety. Use fresh not jarred pre bought minced.)
Sauté the Onions, carrots and garlic in the pan until the onions are clear.
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Add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper to the sautéed veggies.
Reduce heat to low/medium and cover leaving room to vent unless your lids have a venting hole on top. I transfer to a pan like this, so I can see through the glass lid and the small hole in the top allows the steam to escape. Too much condensation from being covered will cause it to get to watery.
Let it simmer, again, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick, for about 30 minutes so the basil has time to blend throughout the sauce.
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Take off heat and use immediately if you want or let cool and put in a glass Jar.
It will keep in the fridge for 5 days or you can freeze it, and it will be good for up to three months.
**Depending on my mood, I will occasionally run the finished sauce through the food processor to make it completely smooth. This way of making a smooth sauce is not as thin as blending the tomatoes before rendering**
**An excellent addition to this sauce are sautéed peppers. These can be added during it’s making or later on. Green peppers add a stronger flavor then red or yellow which are sweeter, but more colorful.**
**Regular or spicy Impossible Foods sausage added to this sauce make it amazing. The meatballs are excellent with it as well.**
**If you like a little stronger onion flavor you can also add a cup of chopped green onions, which add a touch of color and texture as well. Add them uncooked or very lightly sautéed as green onions tend to turn dark when cooked too long and get soft and slimy.**
**If you like HOT sauce add chili pepper flakes or some of Marie Sharp’s Beware Habanero or Red Hornet Pepper Sauce.**
Enjoy!
– Next we’ll tackle Spinach Ravioli!-