Just a quick post today, which is sadly pic free because I was in a hurry making dinner last night. But it turned out really well so I thought I’d put it up today for y’all.
You may remember that I enjoy tinkering with my spaghetti sauce recipe and I rarely make it the same way twice. A couple weeks ago I made it with a bunch of diced red peppers and it had a great extra dimension. So when Hunt’s Tomatoes were on sale this week, I was intrigued by something I’d never seen before:
Canned tomatoes are the best way to make tomato sauce most of the year because you’ll have fresher tomatoes there than you will in the produce section. We like our pasta sauce with a kick, so I thought I’d give these Spicy Red Pepper Diced Tomatoes a try.
I was really happy with how it turned out. I usually use mostly crushed tomatoes to get a sauce-ier consistency, but this time I used just the diced tomatoes for a chunkier sauce. I also added some green veggies to be healthy, but also (I admit) because I thought of the name “Mean Green Spaghetti” to show how it’s spicy and healthy at the same time and I figured green veggies would be appropriate.
This made enough sauce for about half a pound of pasta, E and I both had a plate and there’s enough for one plate leftover. (We do use a lot of sauce each, though.) I added sausage as E is a meat-sauce kind of guy, but you could easily leave it out or switch it for ground beef. You could also easily double the veggies here.
Mean Green Spaghetti Sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound mild or sweet sausage, casings removed
2 14-ounce cans Hunt’s Spicy Red Pepper Diced Tomatoes
Saute the onion and green pepper on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until onion is translucent and pepper is tender. Add zucchini, saute another 2 minutes. Add garlic, saute another 1 minute. Add sausage, increase heat to medium-high, stir and break up sausage until cooked through.
Add tomatoes (do not drain). Reduce heat to medium-low, stirring occasionally, until sauce reaches desired consistency.
This was a great way to get a peppery flavor without having to buy those pesky expensive red peppers. (Seriously, $4 a pound???) I’ve been buying green peppers in bulk but I still feel the pinch. I’ll definitely be keeping these Spicy Hunt’s Tomatoes in my pantry from here on out.
This looks yummy! I wonder how green peppers would puree…
My son is big-time anti-veggie. He’ll only eat red sauces on pasta & finely chopped spinach/broccoli or mushrooms on pizza (though he sometimes has trouble chewing mushrooms if they’re not really fine).
So, I puree 1 onion, a bunch of baby carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 8-oz sliced mushrooms & a bunch of Italian herbs until it’s really smooth, saute it in a TB olive oil for about 10 minutes, so that the onion mellows a bit & then add at least 1.5 jars of low-salt spaghetti sauce (gotta add enough red to cover the weird grey/green color that the puree makes). I’ve served it on dried, bagged spinach tortellini w/ great success to everyone in my family. I’m thinking of adding pureed chickpeas, to add protein, since my kid also has trouble w/ meat.