Day 20: I Make Spaghetti With Tomato Sauce Because That's All I Can Make

The challenge was thrown out there to create some PCP-friendly main menu dishes. I have a number of recipes in mind, but they all seemed to require the same ingredient—tomato sauce.

The first thing was to find a recipe to make fresh tomato sauce that was quick, easy, and fit the PCP plan. There are some jar spaghetti sauces out there that can come close to being PCP friendly, but a majority of them out there include salt and/or sugar in their ingredient lists. Definitely not something that we can use!

So, I searched on the web and came across the blog for Chez Pim. One of her entries was a recipe for 15-Minute Tomato Sauce. I took a look at it. With a very slight adjustment to the ingredients, the recipe could be PCP-friendly. But the question was, would it really be tomato sauce in 15 minutes? I decided to give it a shot.

The nice thing about her recipe is that she makes it very easy to follow and includes pictures so you can make sure your tomato sauce is coming out like hers. And it was very quick to make. It probably took me a little over 15 minutes to do, but that was mainly because I was waiting for the water to boil.

CHEZ PIM'S 15-MINUTE TOMATO SAUCE—PCP STYLE

Ingredients:

2 pounds (or almost a kilo) of fresh tomatoes
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
just a misting of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
black pepper, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste

(Pim's recipe adds a lot more olive oil and salt, which really isn't necessary. I found that the balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes give it quite a lot of flavor.)

First fill a pot with water and set it on the stove. Bring it to a boil.

While you are waiting for the water, take a sharp knife and make a cross mark on the bottom of each tomato. The water should be hot enough by the time you're done.

Plunge the tomatoes into the pot of hot water and let them sit for about a minute, until you can see the skin come a little loose at the cross mark. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and give them a quick rinse in cold water. This will make them easy to peel.

With a small knife, peel the skin from the tomato and discard it. It should come off very easily. With the tip of the knife, cut around each green crown and remove it. Discard that too.

Then take the tomato in your hand and squeeze it until the excess juice and seeds come squirting out of it. (It's fine if a few seeds remain.) Put the tomato pulp (which is what's left in your hand) in a bowl and crush it thoroughly to break it up to small chunks.

Spray some olive oil onto a large saute pan. We use this product called Misto. Just fill it with olive oil, pump the lid, and spray onto your cooking surface. It uses a lot less than if you were to pour the olive oil in the pan. Use a brush to make sure the bottom of your pan is coated.

Toss the chopped garlic into the pan and then the tomato pulp a few seconds later. Let cook for about a minute or two (or five) until you can see the pulp breaking down and releasing the juices. Use a slotted spoon to pick up the pulp and put it in a bowl. Set that bowl to the side. Leave the juices in the pan.

Cook down the watery juice until thick, about another couple of minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Check to see if the sauce is thick enough. You should be able to scrape the bottom of the pan and the sauce will stay to the sides.

Add the tomato pulp you removed back into the pan. Stir to mix well. Check the seasonings again to make sure it's to your liking. Then pour the tomato sauce in a bowl. It will store well in the refrigerator. When I made this recipe, I ended up with 294g of tomato sauce.

Now that you have a PCP friendly base tomato sauce, it should start inspiring some more meal ideas for you. It will definitely bring you pasta back to something that you were use to.

Until next time!