Quick-n-Dirty Vegetable Sauce

== Description ==
For a couple of zucchini and 12 oz of mushrooms, one standard can (16 oz?) of sauce is enough. Good veggies for this: mushroom, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, artichoke heart, green bean, acorn squash. Peppers and onions added to the sauté overwhelm the whole dish for me, making it taste like a big pepper (rather than a big tomato which is what I want it to taste like).
The Saturday afternoon way to get good veggies in sauce (a sauté pan, a pot, a blender, another pot for skinning tomatoes): if I have time I start my tomato sauce by simmering 3 oz of sun-dried tomatoes and a head or two of whole garlic cloves (uncut garlic, cooked before processing, has a much milder taste than garlic that is cut before cooking). A handful of dried sweet red pepper flakes added to this is also good.
Once everything is cooked/rehydrated, I purée it, return it to the pot, add sauteed veggies plus several large peeled/seeded/chopped tomatoes. Also rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, etc. in random quantities, usually a couple of bay leaves and a couple of teaspoons of each of the dried herbs, and a big wad of fresh basil leaves (hydroponic basil, found year-round in central IL grocery stores). Simmer this until it tastes done. If it's thin, add a little more water and it's soup, if thick, add a little tomato paste and it's spaghetti sauce. I've also put lentils in this and called it minestrone.
== Ingredients ==
* garlic
* PAM
* sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
* vegetables
* fresh basil
* canned tomato sauce
* tomato paste
* herbs
== Directions ==
# Grate copious amounts of garlic and sauté in a squirt of PAM spray until brown.
# Sprinkle in some rosemary and oregano.
# Add veggies and some water and sauté.
# Add some fresh basil leaves if you have them, and saute until they just wilt.
# Add a sufficient amount of canned tomato sauce and a little tomato paste to achieve the texture you want.
Category:Sauce Recipes
Category:Garlic Recipes
Category:Tomato sauce Recipes
Category:Tomato paste Recipes
Category:Acorn squash Recipes
Category:Artichoke Recipes
Category:Basil Recipes
Category:Better Digestion Recipes
Category:Broccoli Recipes
Category:Green bean Recipes
Category:Lentil Recipes
Category:Mushroom Recipes
Category:Oregano Recipes