No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

I’m really missing tomatoes.

I eat them in my salad, with my pasta as a sauce and as an ingredient in most of the meals I cook. I’ve recently made meatloaf without tomato sauce and that was fine and I can make a yummy dairy-free and gluten-free veggie lasagne with a pumpkin sauce … but how do you enjoy spaghetti bolognaise without tomatoes? It was dreams of spaghetti bolognaise that broke me in my vegetarianism during my first pregnancy and we have continued to eat it almost fortnightly ever since. It is a good fall-back meal when you’ve run out of ideas to feed the family – and my bolognaise sauce is always pumped full of grated carrots and zuchini, mushrooms, beans … whatever else I can find. It is hard to do without a reliable fall-back meal!!

Today I found a recipe that is perfect and I challenge you to make it and give it to your family and see if they notice the difference! It was so yummy, it looked even redder than tomato pasta sauce, it was as sweet and flavoursome and the texture was just perfect. I am looking forward to using this sauce as a ketchup (add a bit more vinegar and maple syrup), a pizza sauce (when I master gluten-free bases) and in gluten-free lasagne too. Mmm maybe even for baked beans … I still haven’t mastered home-made baked beans …have had a pot of beans cooking in the oven ALL day and still the beans are a little on the crunchy side, even with a 24 soak and ages of boiling even before beginning the recipe (but that is another story!)

I found the original recipe for the nightshade-free sauce HERE – but of course in the process of cooking there were a few changes made, so I feel ok about putting the recipe up on this blog. I will post it in the Kitchen Garden when Blogger lets me!

No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

3 carrots,

1/2 beetroot

2/3 cup of water

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

3 tbs lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

sprinkle of dried herbs or a chopped handful of fresh herbs

1 diced cooked onion

1 clove garlic, crushed.

Steam the carrots and beetroot until they are tender and then blend them together

Cook the onions and garlic with the herbs and add this to the sauce with water and vinegar. Blend it together if you like a smooth sauce or just mix well if you like a bit of texture. My husband was making this and he added a bit of maple syrup to the sauce – but I am of the thinking that beets and carrots make it sweet enough.

Add any other ingredients you like: cooked ground meat for bolognaise or beans and spices for mexican.

This recipe made enough for two meals, so I froze the second half.

We ate ours tonight with a bit of cubed cooked ham, mushrooms and green beans and served it on top of home made gluten free fettucine that my husband made in our Samson juicer. The recipe is intended for the dough to be rolled between sheets of plastic wrap, then sliced and cooked … but it didn’t work out tonight. Instead the juicer saved the day and worked wonders for creating tasty pasta noodles to serve with this dish. The cook in just a few minutes!

I thought of taking a photo of our meal about halfway through eating it.

Trust me, it was delicious!