Easy Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

It’s not quite summer yet, but it does not hurt to line up few new recipes to try when the vegetable gardens start to yield the wonderful, delicious produce. Of course, with modern day supermarkets, the produce in my Easy Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce is on hand any time of the year!

The recipe is easy, because you only need a handful of ingredients: eggplant, zucchini, garlic, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, and a bit of salt, dried basil and dried oregano. You also need an ingredient that you may have hard time finding – pomegranate molasses. I found mine in a local Indian grocery store, and started experimenting with it recently. This molasses is thick and sticky, like the more common molasses made as a byproduct of refining sugar from sugar cane or sugar beets, but it is not sweet – actually it is quite tart. That’s why you will not find this molasses in many desserts, but you will in savory dishes.

If you are now thinking to yourself “I’n not buying yet another ingredient that I’ll never use again”, no worries – just use balsamic vinegar, especially the one that’s rich, sweet and dark. That will work just as well to add a bit of acidity and sweetness to the sauce.

Enjoy!

Easy Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce, via Eat the Vegan Rainbow

Easy Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

What you’ll need:

1 eggplant, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 28 oz (800 g) can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (or use balsamic vinegar)
1 teaspoon basil, dried
1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

What you’ll do:

Place a sturdy pot (I like my Dutch oven) over a medium high heat. Add olive oil and garlic. Sauté for a minute, to allow garlic to start releasing its aroma.
Add the eggplant and zucchini, mix well and sauté for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are fully cooked.
Mix in the molasses (or balsamic vinegar), and all the herbs (basil and oregano), then pour in the crushed tomatoes. Bring to simmer, cover with a lid, lower the heat down all the way, and let cook for another 10 minutes.
Using a stick blender or a regular kind, blend the sauce until rich and dense. Use on your favorite pasta, or spiraled vegetables, like zoodles, which are my personal favorite.