Sometimes you just have to say, “What the (insert expletive here)!” and just do the things that you enjoy doing. I came close to abandoning this blog but my friends and family said that they did not want me to. They told me that regardless of the activity at least I would be doing things that I love, writing and cooking. To that end, over the past couple of years I have been able to come up with some new recipes and I have a ton of ideas for others which I would like to share with anyone who would like them.

Every year, on Valentine’s Day for my sweetie, I make her her favorite dish which is my eggplant parmesan. This year she wanted me to also make fresh sauce to use in this dish so I decided to get a bit creative and do a twist on my smooth marinara sauce. The sauce turned out great! It had some nice deep flavors which were delicious.

Now, “Andiamo” or let’s go! I hope you enjoy.

The Twist

(A marinara with sweet subtle smoky flavors)

Gary Bechard – The Well Fed Cyclist

Ingredients –

1/3 cup – Portobello mushroom cap fine diced
1/2 – Medium or 1 small sweet onion, fine diced
1/2 – Large or 1 medium carrot peeled and grated
3 – Cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp – Parsley, fresh, chopped
2 tbsp – Basil, fresh, chopped
1 tbsp – oregano, fresh, chopped
3 tsp – Sea Salt, coarse ground, (or to taste)
2 tsp – Black pepper, coarse ground (or to taste)
56 ounces – Tomatoes, San Marzano crushed (2, 28 oz cans)
15 ounces – Tomato sauce (1 can)
1/3 cup – Dry red wine (I used some Cabernet but you could use a Chianti or Barolo)
1/3 cup – Grated parmesan cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a few good swirls around the bottom of the pan just enough to lightly coat the bottom (I used some from the Umbria region in Italy)

Construction Instruction –

Mushrooms and onions – Since this is a marinara, I did a fine dice on these trying to make sure that the mushroom and onion pieces were the same size.

Herbs – I did a regular chop on them. Or, you could use, and I am not sure every store has them, semi-dried fresh herbs you can find in the refrigerated herb section in the grocery store. They are really good and are great when you are kind of short on time. However, fresh is best.

Carrots – Everybody wonders about the carrot but in reality it is a great way to sweeten the sauce without having to resort to sugar or sugar substitutes. The carrot will disappear in the sauce and just like an old friend, they are naturally sweet.

Cooking – In a large sauce pan (I used a 5 quart enameled cast iron), coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and bring to temperature. Note: I usually keep the temperature just below medium heat to make sure that I do not burn the oil since olive oil has a low smoke point. When the pan is at temperature, add the garlic and stir slightly to soften the garlic. Make sure that the garlic is not overcooked and does not turn brown. Next add in the onions sautéing them until they are soft and the onions turn translucent.

Next, add the cans of tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, grated carrot and the herbs and stir thoroughly mixing everything into an even mixture of veggies and sauce. I salted and peppered my veggies at this stage then added the wine. During the cooking process I like to take small samples to make sure that the flavors are coming together nicely.

Lower the heat and simmer for about 2 hours always making sure that you keep the sauce moving so the temperature is even throughout the mixture. Towards the middle of the simmer time add the parmesan and stir thoroughly. Simmering for this amount of time helps break down the tomatoes a bit to release their flavor. The sauce will cook down and become thicker the longer you simmer. If it the sauce looks to be too thick, I always add a bit of wine and extend the cooking time a bit.

Uses – I used this sauce in eggplant parmesan but because of its flavor it would be great with Rigatoni or thicker kinds of pasta. Bucatini would be great with this sauce. Note: I sometimes will just make a pot of sauce, let it cool and put it in plastic containers and freeze it. Stays good for up to 6 months.