This is another recipe from our friend Jaime Rothbard, aka The Foodie Alchemist, who showed us the power of batch cooking. It serves 8 to 10 people, but if you don’t have 8 to 10 people to serve, store the sauce in your leftover food jars and pop it in the fridge (or the freezer) and eat it all week long (or year long!) to save time on food prep.
What we love about this recipe is that you start with a base comprised of onions, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and garlic and then build from there to tailor it to your individual taste. You can swap in celery, shallots, leafy greens, sweet potato, beets, zucchini or summer squash, eggplant, and mushrooms. Fresh herbs can include parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and tarragon.
To keep this dish gluten-free, serve on a bed of zoodles, noodles made from squash! What a fun and easy way to get veggies into your diet! We made our noodles with the Zoodle Slicer which, as of this writing, only costs $10.99 on Amazon. We used about 2 squash per serving. If you aren’t serving a large group, save extra sauce for later and each time you want to serve it, grab a few squash to whip yourself up some fresh zoodles!
Instead of zoodles, serve over pasta, rice, baked squash, or over steamed greens, broccoli, or cauliflower. You can also add into lasagnes or other Italian-inspired casseroles. Make a thick version of this by using less liquid and serving as sauce for pizza.
This recipe is plant-based and gluten-free.
- 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 3 cups diced tomatoes
- 1 TB minced garlic, rested for 10 minutes
- 1 cup chopped sweet potatoes
- 1 cup chopped beets
- 1 cup chopped yellow squash
- 1 sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped kale
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 to 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 TB finely chopped parsley, including stems
- 2 TB finely chopped basil, including stems
- 2 TB chopped oregano
- 10 zucchini squash
- 10 yellow squash
- Combine Base ingredients and Additions in a large pot
- Add water until veggies are barely covered
- Add dry spices to pot, cover, and bring to a boil
- Once boiling, reduce heat and allow to simmer with lid slightly ajar
- Add kale (or other leafy green) the last few minutes of cooking
- Cook for about 1- to 20 minutes until everything is fork tender
- Remove from heat
- Remove bay leaves
- Careful add sauce to blender and add in fresh herbs
- Puree until smooth
- Slice off the end of each squash
- Hold the Zoodle Slicer in one hand and push and turn the squash with the other hand
- Place zoodles in a shallow sauce pan with enough water to just cover the bottom
- Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, just enough to warm them
- Drain zoodles in a collander and toss with sauce
- When adding kale or other leafy greens, be sure to add it during the last few minutes of cooking until it turns a bright green. Don't overcook!
- When adding sauce to blender, do not fill all the way, but rather add sauce to blender in batches.
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped shallots
- 1 cup eggplant
- For the dry spices, in place of red pepper flakes, used 3 to 4 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
- marjoram
- thyme
- tarragon
- Instead of zoodles, serve over pasta, rice, baked squash, or over steamed greens, broccoli, or cauliflower. You can also add into lasagnes or other Italian-inspired casseroles. Make a thick version of this by using less liquid and serving as sauce for pizza.
- drizzling with balsamic vinegar
- drizzling with extra virgin olive oil
- chopped olives
- more herbs
- sundried tomatoes
- artichoke hearts
- seeds
- grated nuts
- parmesan cheese substitute
Lori Hill
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