Jono’s Pasta Sauce!
This week Jono, one of our CGP regulars and dedicated volunteers has shared with us a pasta sauce recipe like no other! Jono’s son is an enthusiastic forager and enjoys rummaging through our market garden’s collection of weeds from time to time which perhaps has inspired this dish! This recipe is a time-saving, veggie laden, nourishing fridge clean-out kinda vibe which we think will be of interest to all of our parents out there with kids that prefer vegetables when they don’t realise they’re actually eating them. Thanks Jono for sharing this one with us, enjoy!
Jono’s YMMV (Your Miles May Vary) Pasta Sauce
Serves about 6 (or 2-3 teenagers)
Warning:
This recipe is loose. Loose like your share house friend who is random, sometimes spectacular and always wholesome. It’s a recipe built for busy people who want to avoid veggie waste and who also want to time-shift their cooking device for optimal solar-PVgenerating times of day. It’s also good for kids who are fussy with their vegetable intake –because they’re blended and hidden in the sauce!
Warning part two:
If you’re a pasta sauce purist, look away!
A note on tools:
I use a multi-cooker because I can use the same pot/device to saute the veggies and then slow cook them (or pressure cook if I’m running tight for time). I love my multi-cooker because I can set it to start the slow cooking before I leave for school drop off, and the main power draw will coincide with when I’m generating the most electricity from my rooftop solar. It also has a ‘keep warm function,’ which uses very little power, and the pasta sauce can stay there until I’m ready. Win-win! That said, this can all be done with regular pots and pans, you’ll just need to watch over it.
Here’s an example of the veggies I used in my pasta sauce yesterday:
One beetroot
4 radishes (this can make things a little bitter, I think, so if that’s not your vibe, avoid!)
Quarter of a cabbage
A whole cauliflower
1.5 cups of brown lentils (soaked over night, though I have done it where they’ve only soaked for an hour or so and it still turned out well). You can also add one or two tins of lentils/legumes if you haven’t soaked some beforehand.
Two small onions
A clove of garlic
Half a parsnip
Other things I’ve used in various random combinations in the past: green beens, Chinese broccoli, celery, carrot, leek, silverbeet, sweet potato...
Here are the spices I often use (that you probably wouldn’t associate with pasta sauce, but from an Ayurvedic medicine point of view help with digestion and other good things):
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
Half teaspoon ground mustard seeds
A nub of ginger, grated or chopped finely
A few shakes from a supermarket-bought jar of dried “Italian herbs”
I’ve also added fresh dill and/or fresh parsley at the blending stage. I’m not that fussy!
Rough overview:
Grab any combo of veggies from the fridge/cupboard, roughly chop them into big chunks.
Heat some oil at a medium heat, throw in some onion and garlic, then wack in a bunch of spices and cook until aromatic.
Start adding the bigger/denser items to oil/spices, stir to coat.
Add lentils.
After all the veggies and lentils have had a few minutes to cook in the spices, add a bottle of passata (or about 2 cans of diced tomatoes).
Put on to slow cook for 6-8 hours (whatever is convenient. I’ve only slow cooked this on low heat for a minimum 6 hours, but maybe it can be done with less than six hours. Experiment!)
Once the slow cooking is done, it’s time to blend, baby blend!
Add salt and/or pepper to taste!
Cook your favourite pasta noodle, plonk on some sauce and dinner is served!
