It is definitely an oxymoron (love that word). Whoever heard of meatless meat sauce? I hadn’t until I found a recipe for it in Cooks Illustrated. If you aren’t familiar with this magazine I think you should be. It isn’t like any other cooking magazine I’ve ever seen. It takes a scientific approach to getting recipes right. Apparently it’s all about the chemistry. Who knew?
Pasta and meat sauce are a natural pairing, but I prefer to put the sauce on spaghetti squash. I love the taste and the color contrast is gorgeous. Regardless of what you put it on the recipe makes enough sauce for two pounds of the grain or vegetable of your choice.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- One onion chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas rinsed – yes you will rinse them again later
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Directions
- Pulse mushrooms in two batches in a food processor until chopped into 1/8 – ¼ inch pieces, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Note – don’t clean the work bowl
- Heat 5 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering
- Add mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are browned and fond has formed on bottom of pot, about 8 minutes
- While mushrooms cook, pulse onion in food processor until finely chopped, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Note: Don’t clean work bowl
- Transfer onion to pot with mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon oil; garlic; oregano, and pepper flakes in bowl
- Add tomato paste to pot and cook stirring constantly, until mixture is rust-colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and push to sides of pot. Add garlic mixture to center and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and broth; bring to simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer sauce for 5 minutes stirring occasionally
- While sauce simmers pulse chickpeas in food processor until chopped into 1/4 inch pieces, 7 to 10 pulses Transfer chickpeas to pot and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste
Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
