Tag Archives: zucchini

My Tomato Sauce

5 Jul

For pasta, for pizza, for salsa… for just about anything. When I need a pasta sauce that is delectable, this is the one I go to. Its been “developed” over more than 20 years of cooking tomato sauce. I have friends who remember me cooking a version of this sauce when I was 14 years old! Im almost 40 now 😉  Its ingredients are malleable but there are some broad rules that I usually stick to:

  • Keep a base of onions and loads of garlic
  • Always use a mix of tomatoes – I use at least 2 types of fresh tomatoes, canned pomodoro, and tomato paste. This ensures a really deep level of tomato flavour. Sun dried tomatoes are also awesome in this sauce.
  • Try and use a mix of fresh and dried herbs. Again, these impart very different flavours, and mixing them really lends depth to the sauce
  • You can use a mix of vegetables (see below for what I put into it) but try and make sure there are some carrots for sweetness

I first started cooking this sauce in high school when I used to have loads of people over for pool parties. It was the most forgiving sauce because you could simmer it for ages, and it just got better and better. As long as the basic rules were followed, and the bones of the sauce were respected, you could add just about any vegetable (bar potatoes or pumpkin) that you wanted.

When I went to university, I started making this sauce for my housemates. There was always something missing, until one day, I hit on a magic combination. And this is the secret to the sauce, without which you will not have the same sublime flavour and glossiness. These are non negotiable. You need at least 1 eggplant for silky smooth, shiny unctuousness, and a big handful of prunes for a dusky sweetness that you just cant place in the final taste. These two ingredients are secret because they both melt into the sauce, encouraging and supporting its flavour without pushing their own agenda into the story. Eggplant and prunes. Who would have guessed?! Please do not try and make this sauce without these two – I promise, it will make you so very happy that you trusted me. 😉

For about 4 – 6 cups of finished sauce, you will need:

  • 2 medium white onions (approx 2 cups), minced
  • 7 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter (optional)
  • Salt and pepeper
  • Fresh basil, thyme, marjoram, oregano and rosemary, minced fine – about 1/2 cup in total
  • 1 large or about 5 baby eggplant (approx 2 cups) roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 large red pepper (approx 1 cup), deseeded, roughly chopped
  • 4 – 6 baby carrots (approx 1 cup), peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 medium zucchini (approx 1 cup), roughly chopped
  • 2 cup mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped (I used cherry and baby roma)
  • 8 medium portobello mushrooms (approx 3 cups) peeled and very roughly chopped
  • 2 x 400 g cans of pomodoro tomatoes in juice – about 4 cups, made up with wine or water if needed
  • 15 pitted prunes
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 – 2 tbsp mixed Italian herbs (dry)

In a heavy 5 qt saucepan, soften onions and garlic in about 2 tbsp olive oil and butter (if you are not using the butter, just use a little more olive oil), over high heat. Keep the olive oil by the side of the stove, and add more when you feel the ingredients are sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Season the onion mixture with salt and pepper, and add about 3 tbsp of the minced mixed fresh herbs, and mix well. Lower heat to medium high, and add the eggplant. Mix well to ensure its covered with oil and onions. Add  balsamic vinegar, and mix to brown a little.

Add red pepper and mix well, and then a few minutes later, add carrots and mix well.

Add all the red wine and the tomato paste, mix well, and turn the heat to low. Add zucchini, mix well, and then add the raw tomatoes and mix well. Add the mushrooms and mix to combine all, keeping check that nothing is sticking and add olive oil if neccessary.

Measure out 2 cans of pomodoro tomatoes in juice into a large measuring cup and make up to 4 cups with wine or water if needed. Smash the tomatoes with a fork so they are roughly chopped, and add all at once to the pan.

Cover the sauce, and allow to begin to simmer and steam. Meanwhile, pit the prunes, and chop roughly. Add the prunes and brown sugar to the sauce and mix well.

Let the sauce simmer, covered, for approx 15 – 20 minutes, mixing every five to ten minutes to ensure it does not burn.

Uncover, mix very well, and let simmer for at least 45 minutes to a couple of hours, over low heat, or until reduced by half. Ensure you check the sauce every 15 minutes or so to ensure it does not burn. You can add more wine if you want a particularly deeply wine-ey sauce.

Taste for flavour and season with salt and pepper if needed, or even some more sugar, and add dried herbs. About five or ten minutes before finished, add the rest of the fresh herbs to let their scent permeate the sauce.

Once the sauce is to your liking, take off heat and decide if you want to keep it chunky (which is nice for some pastas, salsas, etc) or if you want to blend it smooth. I use an immersion blender here. If you do blend it please make sure it has cooled to at least lukewarm – hot splashing tomato sauce is a real pain!

If you are using this as a pizza sauce as I will be, make sure you have at least one cook’s meal with about half a cup of sauce mixed with some angel hair pasta! Soul satisfying.

This freezes extremely well. I often freeze in an ice cube maker and then transfer to a zip loc bag. Alternatively, measure out by cupfuls into a sandwich ziploc bag and freeze flat. Keeps for up to 6 months.

Special thanks to AngelKitten for transcribing all the ingredients and keeping track of me!

Photos copyright Chan KY

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South African Potjiekos

4 Jul

The South African Vegetarian Potjie is a classic and traditional Afrikaans recipe, usually made in a cast iron pot over a campfire. This version is basically a vegetable stew, but its how you cook the veggies, and how you present them that really makes them shine. This dish is usually made with lamb or meat, but occasionally you will find a vegetarian version. This is my favourite combination. It is a simple recipe because it comes down to which vegetables are available, and knowing how to combine said vegetables so that they sparkle.

Shopping is an integral part of cooking. Organic vegetables are always more expensive (they shouldn’t be but they are!) and so if you cant afford to go all organic, shop smart. Go to the organic section first and figure out what is freshest, ripest, smells and feels the best. Prod and touch and sniff and stroke your vegetables (much like the old lady in Tampopo) and choose a balance of colour and flavour. Max out your budget here, and then round out your vegetable selection with non-organic staples, that might have a larger range or more interesting choices then the organic aisle.

The single most important rule to remember when you make potjiekos is to let your imagination, wallet, and the state of your vegetable aisle combine in magical partnership! In terms of the vegetables you use, I would try to remember that you need something from each of these groups: aromatics to pull the entire dish together, such as onions, garlic, or for those who abstain, peppers and celery; starchy and firm vegetables that will standup to being on the bottom of the pot, and will cook the longest; sweet vegetables like pumpkin; vegetables that will release a lot of water, and flavour into the broth like mushrooms or tomatoes; and strong savoury green vegetables.

The potjiekos below will feed at least 12 – 16 people, and was made in a 32cm round (not oval) cast iron dutch oven. Get one if you can. Whatever you make in here will feed hoards, and it will last a lifetime. I quite like the smaller oval dutch ovens, but the round one is just fantastic.

I chose vegetables that were at their peak in terms of ripeness, luciousness and I tried to include a nice balance of organic and regular vegetables. I used a mix of tastes and textures that I like and enjoy, and layered the roughly chopped vegetables with a sludgey jam that I made from the onions and garlic.

I find this is a meditative dish. Cutting the vegetables, layering them, thinking about what goes where and how they will taste with each other – all these processes make you intensely aware of the food you are eating and serving. It’s a loving dish.

You can certainly adjust this recipe for much smaller crowds – though if youre cooking for 2 I would make enough for 4, and puree the remainder the next day for a comforting vegetable soup.

Potjiekos is beyond delicious! The best part, in my opinion, is the extraordinary, and scant, sauce that pools at the bottom of the cooked dish. It is the essence of the vegetables you used, and needs no seasoning. Sublime.

For a large crowd, you will need:

  • 3 – 4 onions roughly chopped
  • 8 – 12 garlic cloves, either chopped or smashed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Oregano, basil or any other dried herb that you like
  • Salt & Pepper
  • White wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar or port wine or regular wine or juice – just something acidic and liquid)
  • Mustard for that little hit of fire
  • Vegetable oil
  • 2 – 4 tbsp butter

Combine all the ingredients above, in your dutch oven, and cook until the onions are wilted and slightly jammy in consistency. Transfer almost all of this mixture into a bowl, allowing a thin film of oil and onions to remain at the bottom of the pot.

Take your pot off the heat.

Roughly peel and chop

  • 3 – 4 red potatoes
  • 3 white potatoes
  • 1 parsnip
  • 1 – 2 large carrots

They should cover the bottom of the pot. Mix them with the left over oil and onion coating the pot.

  • Roughly peel and chop
  • 4 Japanese sweet potatoes
  • ½ medium sized butternut squash

and layer on top of the potato mixture. You should almost cover it. Spoon a bit of the onion mixture over this.

Roughly chop

  • 4 -5 large Portobello mushrooms
  • 4 – 5 small very ripe tomatoes

and layer on top of the butternut mixture. You should almost cover it. Spoon a bit of the onion mixture over this. You could also layer a few fresh herbs – rosemary, thyme, basil – here as well.

Roughly chop

  • 1 large yellow zucchini
  • 1 large green zucchini

and shuck and slice

  • 1 ear of corn

and layer on top of the mushroom mixture. Spoon over your onion mixture again.

Roughly chop

  • 1 – 2 small heads of broccoli
  • 1 -2 small heads of broccoli rabe or cauliflower or purple broccoli
  • 1 bunch of spinach
  • A few baby corns

And layer on top.

Your dutch oven should be full now. If its not, add more vegetables as you see fit. DON’T mix the layers.

Spoon over the last of your onion mixture.

Either make a vegetable broth with an organic broth cube, or use plain water, add enough water to come about 1/4th of the way up the pot.

Cover. Do not stir whatever you do! Check only occasionally as you cook this over a lowish to medium heat for an hour or more. You will know when its ready. Everything will have steamed, lightly. All the vegetables retain their individuality, but the gorgeous elixir which has been created by their mingled cooking steam will unify the dish. It is truly a case of the sum being more than the parts. Check for salt and pepper.

To make this look “presentable” and party perfect, sprinkle a few breadcrumbs and over the top for the last five minutes. Pop into a hot oven, with the broiler on. Alternatively, chop up a few bright green asparagus or some broccoli, and put on top in the last 5 minutes. They will stay bright green and make the dish look delicious. Or sprinkle the top with some Italian parsley.

Day Two: If you have leftovers, you can do much with this stew. Blend in food processor or blender for a vegetable soup that is beyond delicious.

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A Simple Vegetable Soup for a Tired Mummy

29 Jun

I loved the fresh fruit and vegetables we got at Whole Foods – what a feast for the senses! When MZ was exhausted and didnt really even have the energy to eat (thats what happens when you are at full time work and have a gorgeous babygirl), I would try and make her things that would taste good, but go down easy. This vegetable soup is really as simple as it reads – inspired by what was in the store, and flavoured by nothing more than a little rind of parmesan and salt and pepper. The vegetables were all organic, and their flavour and colour were vivid and vibrant. You dont really need spices or herbs when the veg are this good. Wonderful served with a simple grilled cheese sandwich, or even some bread and tomatoes.

Serves 4

  • 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 – 2 large portobello mushrooms, peeled and chopped roughly
  • 3 – 4 carrots, washed and chopped
  • 1 zucchini, washed and chopped
  • 1 small head of broccoli, washed and chopped
  • 1 small butternut, peeled, deseeded and chopped
  • Handful of baby spinach
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Rind of parmesan if you have it (omit for vegan)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and soften onion and garlic. Once they have softened, and are glistening happily, add the mushrooms, and stir to combine. As soon as the mushrooms release some of their liquid, add the carrots. Stir to combine.

Add the zucchini, and allow it to release its own liquid into the pan. Stir all together, and add the broccoli, butternut, spinach and water, and stir all well. Pop in the rind of parmesan (this will add a bit of salt, and a haunting dusky note that is just lovely), if you have it, and cover with a lid for about five minutes, lowering the heat.

Once you take the lid off, take out the parmesan, and think about your choices. You could mash and mush the vegetables by hand with a potato masher, or you could transfer cup by cup to a blender or food processor. Dont completely liquidise the soup – you want it chunky and thick. After you pulse gently, transfer back to pan, and take another cup of vegetables to puree. Do this until you have the consistency you prefer, and only now taste for salt and pepper. Sometimes the vegetables are so fresh and sweet, you dont need much addition.

Serve with plenty of love.

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