Sauce Wars- Veggie Tomato Sauce v. Tomato Basil Sauce
Back when I was living in Gainesville (Go Gators!), one of my bestest buds, Ashley, and I decided that the tomato sauce we made in our apartment was better than any other type of tomato sauce we found in the store. We were convinced that we would start our own company called, Saucy Ladies, and bottle our own sauce. That never happened, but it was a good idea at the time.
Last night, I had dinner at my Aunt Sue and Uncle Mike’s house and we made a delish veggie tomato sauce that could be just as good, or better than the Saucy Ladies sauce. I’ll give you both recipes and let you decide the winner!
Saucy Ladies Tomato Basil
What you need:
1 onion (chopped)
4-5 cloves of crushed garlic
Olive Oil
White Wine (I like to use Pinot Grigio)
Fresh Basil
2 cans crushed tomatoes
Salt/Pepper
1 can tomato paste
1. Coat bottom of large sauce pot with good olive oil. Add crushed garlic and onions. Sautee onions and garlic until the onions start to become clear. (Make sure the garlic does NOT brown).
2. Pour in the 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and a few splashes of white wine. (Be careful not too pour too much wine, it will change the taste of the sauce). Salt and Pepper to your liking. Cook on low for about 30 minutes. Add 1 pkg. of fresh basil.
3. If the sauce is a little thin, add a can of tomato paste. Let the sauce cook on low for another 30 minutes.
Very Veggie Tomato Sauce
What you need:
2 cans of tomato paste
2 cans of tomato sauce (they are 2 small cans-find them near the canned tomatoes)
2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes
Olive Oil
1/2 carrots
2 Small yellow squash
2 small zucchini
8-12 ounces of white mushrooms (sliced)
5 cloves crushed garlic
Red Wine (I used a Cabernet)
Pepper
1 1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
1. In a cuisinart, chop carrots, zucchini and squash (you can decide how chunky you want your veggies). Meanwhile, in a large sauce pot, coat bottom of pot with olive oil. Heat on low and add garlic mushrooms. Keep stirring to prevent garlic from sticky to bottom.
2. Add the chopped veggies and stir as the veggies cook down. Once the veggies have cooked down, add the cans of sauce, past and whole tomatoes. Pour a 2 quick splashes of the red wine. Add fresh cracked pepper and oregano.
3. Once the sauce has been cooking on low for about 30 minutes, add a whole package of fresh basil (Cut the basil with a scissor). Let the sauce cook for about 2 hours.
*The picture above is my lunch from today. Leftover noodles and ravioli with the Very Veggie tomato sauce. Yum!
**A good gift idea for the holidays- pick up a cute colander or pasta bowl from Homegoods/TJMaxx, a nice package of pasta and give your friend/loved ones a jar of your homemade sauce!
3 years ago