Have you ever been in a situation where you're planning a pasta/pizza/whatever dinner, and find yourself spending long minutes in the jarred sauces aisle of the local grocer's, looking through all the different flavors and varieties, trying to remember that one brand that was really good that one time, or possibly just which one hits all the flavor notes you're looking for, while not being too expensive? And then, what of additives and expiration dates? Wouldn't it be so much simpler if you could, I don't know, just make a delicious sauce, from scratch, yourself? To put what YOU want into it, and know that the whole thing is high quality?
Today, I'm going to show you just how easy it is to do exactly that. Also check out
the latest Aliens in the Supermarket feature for the artichoke that I made as the side-dish to this!
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| See this? This deliciousness could easily be yours! |
Full instructions after the jump!
The Ingredients you'll need (for the sauce, anyway):
- 2 stalks of celery
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 1 red bell pepper (Any color would do really; the red just makes a better final color for the sauce)
- some mushroom (I used roughly 1/2 of a Portabello)
- canned diced tomato (A 28oz can works perfectly. Also, San Marzano tomatoes are preferred, but if you can't find that type (I couldn't find any for this batch, lol) it's no big deal.)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 sausages (Aidell's Italian chicken sausage is AMAZING in this.)
- black olives (not pictured here, but I use a 3.8oz can)
- red wine (or Port)
- salt
- seasonings (black pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, and parsley)
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| Ignore the artichoke. It's a guest of honor, but not involved in this part of the party. |
Step 1: Preparation
Chop all your vegetables; they don't have to be any exact size or anything. When you get to the bell pepper, remove the bits with the seeds.
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| Like so. |
Throw the veggies, with the exception of the tomatoes and olives, in a pot with some olive oil and a bit of salt, then sautee on low heat until they're done. It's basically your standard
mirepoix, just with a few additions.
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| VEGGIE PARTY |
Step 2: Add more stuff
After a while, the vegetables should be nice and soft, like this. That's when you can begin the next step.
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| The veggie party has simmered down, literally and figuratively. |
Deglaze the pan with a splash of red wine (
I used Port instead, since it imparts a sweeter, richer flavor... plus it's what I have open at the moment lol).
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| The veggie party: also can be revitalized by the simple addition of booze! |
Once the pan is deglazed, add your tomatoes (no need to drain) and seasonings. As mentioned above int he ingredients list, the seasonings you'll want are black pepper, thyme, and parsley; and also HEAPING GENEROUS AMOUNTS of basil and oregano. Stir these in, and continue to cook.
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| Measuring? WTF is that?! |
If you're using polenta as the starch for the dish, you'll want to start it at about this point. I prefer the kind that comes in a "log," but the dry kind is alright too... just takes more preparation and often doesn't turn out as good.
Anyways, cut the log down into manageable pieces, and simmer on some olive oil for a while, making sure to flip the pieces every few minutes.
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| Yeah, it really doesn't look like much right now. |
Step 3: Gettin' saucy
After a few minutes of cooking together and getting all happy, as the seasonings you added have imparted their flavor throughout the sauce, it's time to make it actually look like, well, a sauce. Immersion blenders are awesome for this.
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| It's a nice, happy sauce. |
LIKE MAGIC!
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| Happier sauce! |
Now that you've got the base sauce blended together, cover it and reduce to low heat (it will "bloop" and spatter a lot otherwise), and add your final ingredients. This will be the stuff you want to remain "chunky" in the final product; in this case, the sausage and olives. Drain the olives before adding them, though. At this point, all that's left to do is just stir the sauce every couple of minutes or so, and maybe add some seasonings for taste.
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| The final additions to the sauce. |
After long enough of simmering in the oil, your polenta should look something like this, and be softening up quite nicely. Once the pieces are good and soft all around, go ahead and mash them into a porridge of sorts.
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| Ok, now it looks like something. |
Continue to cook until it's all a uniform color and texture, and the remaining oil in the skillet is absorbed.
Step Eat: Dig in!
Once the polenta is done, just scoop some out onto your plate, heap on a generous amount of this delicious sauce you've just made, and then top with the cheese of your choice (Pecorino-Romano is preferred; if you go the Parmesan route, try the "shaved" kind... MUCH better than the powder form we're all used to).
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| Omnomnom |
And as a reminder, please also check out the latest
Aliens in the Supermarket, in which I show you how to prepare the artichoke I'm having as a side, in addition to the sauce I made for it!
Bonus Section!!! Other ideas for stuff to use this sauce for:
Stromboli: Take your pizza crust dough, roll it out into a rectangle rather than a circle, and pre-bake until it starts to develop a bit of a crust, yet is still flexible. Then top it with everything you'd put on your typical pizza, roll it up and seal the "seam" with an egg wash. Brush the outside with olive oil and sprinkle on some seasonings and cheese, then bake until it's done! Slice and serve.
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| Stromboli: quite literally a "pizza roll." |
Topping for... basically any pasta dish. Shown here is an example on some Veal Parmesan I made a while back. This version of the sauce didn't have the mushrooms, olives or sausage.
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| That's some classy dining right there. |
Enjoy!
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