Fauxmato Sauce

[herlander_refugee]

I make this up in a huge recipe so I can freeze it for use later.
I freeze it in quart, pint, cup and even ice cube tray bits (for the perfect "2T tomato sauce" recipes seem enamored of all the time! I do not season it in the bulk recipe....but only later, to suit the desired recipe.

(Edit: oops...forgot to say, this makes about 3 to 3 1/2 quarts.)





4 lbs peeled and cut carrots (2" lengths)
1 can cooked beets, with juice (14 oz)
1 1/2 c strong beef broth
1 1/2 c dry red wine
1 c sloe gin

First, cook the carrots, either by long slow simmer in just enough water to cover, or in a pressure cooker for speed. They need to be mushable-soft!

Drain the remaining water and get out your blender. Blend in batches until the entire mass of carrots is perfectly smooth, add the can of beets to the last batch. Pour all this back in your pan, add the beef broth, the red wine and the sloe gin. Simmer and stir briefly to marry up the tastes.

Now, if you like and know what cuisine you will use it for; you could season it further. I don't even salt mine, but adding Italian herbs, and onion and garlic is a temptation sometimes.

Usually, I pack it up in containers of several sorts, cool it in the fridge and then freeze it. I pull out and defrost and THEN season it for the meal in question---Italian or Mexican, or Cajun.

In soups and stews that call for tomato sauce, nobody has EVER realized it wasn't the real deal.
It makes a good sauce thinned a bit with more broth or water for spaghetti and makes a convincing lasagna---best with meat recipes in my opinion.

Comments

[juliet316]

Memmed and will print off after dinner. Thanks.

[rax]

Was linked here by a friend, and bookmarked this for later use --- hopefully it works with vegan broth! I'll find out soon. :) Thank you! (I'm both vegan and made ill by nightshades which... limits certain cuisines for me.)

[herlander_refugee]

I can just imagine that it would! I think the broth being vegan won't be a huge thing...I've made it vegan on occasion when a vegetarian friend was visiting. Good luck!

[jld]

…I was actually just about to link you to this before I noticed you'd already commented.

[rainbow]

oooh, your version looks yummy!!

i don't really have a recipe for mine; i chop up carrots, celery, beets, onion, and garlic, saute til it's all pretty soft, and puree it, then season for whatever i want it for. i lvoe to cook it with more garlic, some oregano, and add cooked up ground beef for spaghetti sauce.

i lovelovelove seeing another recipe!

[weaverbird]

This looks wonderful! Bookmarking to try soon. Thanks!

[meloukhia]

Thank you for posting this! It seems like a super handy base for a lot of things.

[willful_zephyr]

Okay, certainly worth a try. I bet my wife will love it.

[leanne]

Oo. This is useful -- I have a friend who's allergic to tomatoes. Thanks much!

[herlander_refugee]

Glad so many of you find it useful. It makes a wonderful addition to a simple broth for a light vegetable soup, too.

[pauraque]

I'm vegetarian -- what happens if you use vegetable broth instead of beef? I wonder if the beet flavor would come out too much without a meat flavor to set it off. (I don't really like the taste of beets.)

[herlander_refugee]

I've used vegetable broth (I have to find the tomato free sort) and mushroom broth to good effect. I don't think the beet flavor dominates at all; without the beets, the color is a bit less red and to me the carroty sweetness is overwhelming.

[pauraque]

Cool, I'll try it with veggie broth then. (And yeah, I sympathize about having to find one with no tomatoes. I've had good luck with the Rapunzel brand.) Thanks!

[herlander_refugee]

I've not seen that brand around here. But the mushroom broth works well, too...and hey, my inner hobbit LOVES the flavor thus imparted.