Sometimes you just need a good veggie marinara sauce. If you do, this is it! You get quite a bit of heft from the eggplants and mushrooms. I like to give everything a good sear – you get a beautiful caramelized vegetable flavor and less stirring means more chilling. Although, don’t chill too much because no one likes burnt veggies in their sauce. I used the majority of this batch for a veggie lasagna but with the little bit I had left, I tossed it with some bowties, did a quick zucchini fry up and called lunch a success! If only all Meatless Mondays were so easy :)
Vegetable Marinara Sauce
enough for 6 servings of pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-2 small eggplants (I used Japanese eggplants), diced
- 8 ounces mushrooms, diced or sliced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh basil
- salt to taste
Heat up the oil in a large skillet or pot over medium high heat. When hot, add all of the vegetables and cook, stirring only occasionally, until quite brown and seared, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, and sugar. Add the basil and simmer, on low, for 20 minutes. Taste and season with salt. Enjoy with pasta, on rice, or any other way you like marinara!
