Thursday, June 2, 2011

Everything-Free Spaghetti Sauce experiment

I have a problem with spaghetti sauce. I love it, but it does not love me. First I learned that garlic is not my friend. Then I realized that tomatoes and tomato sauce do not agree with me. But I really miss spaghetti, so I've made it from time to time and just suffered the consequences. Last night, I tried an alternative, based on something my dad tried years ago.

My dad and my middle sister are both inventive cooks. They like to take a basic food concept and tinker with it. For example, my sister took the idea of dishes like sweet-and-sour chicken, where you have fruit and meat with the sauce, and adapted it. She did sweet-and-sour lamb with strawberries; same idea, but different ingredients. And it turned out really well. Our dad does the same kind of thing with food concepts. Years ago, when I was probably in high school, Dad experimented with spaghetti sauce. It is based on a vegetable puree (tomato sauce) so he wondered how it would work to use a different vegetable. I remember that he made a sauce based on pureed cooked carrots. I'm so glad I remebered that!

**Last night, I wanted to make spaghetti for the family, but I'm a little tired of the price I pay for eating the tomato sauce. I made a regular meat sauce for them, cooking the ground beef (the healthy kind, from our local meat shop), then adding seasonings. Before I added the tomato sauce to the meat, I took out a bit of meat for my experiment. I cooked some diced carrots- just boiled them in water. Then I put the carrots in the blender with some of their cooking water, and blended it till I had a nice puree. I put the carrot puree back in the pan with the meat I'd saved out for myself, and heated it together for just a few minutes. I put my carrot sauce over my brown-rice (gluten-free) spaghetti, and had green beans on the side. It was a little different, but by the time I was finished eating I really liked it! And no consequences to suffer!

I think that if I simmered the sauce longer after adding the seasoned meat, and maybe also seasoned the carrots while they cooked beforehand, the flavor would be richer. I'm dairy free, so I don't know how well Parmesan cheese would go with this. Sometimes I sautee sliced black olives briefly (just till they're warm), in olive oil and Italian seasoning, as an addition to spaghetti. I think that would make a nice boost to my carrot-sauce flavor also. The flavor of the green beans went well with my experimental sauce. I imagine broccoli would, too.

I'm so happy to have found a workable alternative to put on pasta!

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad that it worked for you. I mostly use either tomato sauce or coconut milk as a base for sauces, sometimes adding chicken broth. But as yummy as curried coconut milk whatever on noodles is, it's not exactly spaghetti sauce. Sounds like what you came up with is closer. :)

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  2. I do wish I could still tolerate tomato based sauces- I really miss regular spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce. I'm really glad that I've found a spaghetti sauce alternative that works for me. I've also done some coconut-based sauces that I've been very happy with, but I have to be fairly cautious with coconut milk. If I have it too often, it starts to bother my stomach. I really like curried coconut milk cream sauce over chicken and veggies; I just can't do it very often. Cashews pureed with water make a workable alternative creamy sauce that I like, but with that too, I can't do it too often. I guess my game plan with anything I can eat is moderation. :) I'm always so happy when I come up with something new to eat. :)

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