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humanodon  ·  3926 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: One of the best meals I have ever made: Vegetarian Meatballs.

This looks pretty good. What kind of paprika did you use?

Here is a sauce recipe (which is kind of a pain in the butt, because red sauce is a pain in the butt to make):

You will need :

1/2 a yellow onion (grated)

1 carrot (grated)

1 stalk celery (finely minced. First cut into fine strips and then cut against the grain)

3 - 6 cloves of garlic (at least two crushed and one grated with a microplane or a zester if you like a lot of garlic flavor)

Some tomato paste (the kind in a tube is better than the cans, but canned is cool too)

3 large, dried bay (laurel) leaves

1 or 2 basil plants worth of fresh basil leaves (chiffonaded) and their stalks (finely chopped)

Some parsley

Some fresh thyme or oregano

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

A little unsalted butter

A little honey

Lemon (and its zest, if you like)

Some paprika (I like smoked)

A couple chili peppers (dried or fresh)

Some red wine

A rind from a hard, aged cheese like Parmigiano-Reggiano or Peccorino Romano, whatever you've got

3 lbs or 1.5 kg fresh, ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded (to do this, blanch and then shock in ice-water) but not chopped.

Saute onion, carrot, celery and basil stalks in olive oil and butter with the bay leaves and a pinch of salt until the carrot, celery and basil stalks are soft, med-low heat. Add garlic, chili peppers and paprika and cook a few minutes longer, adding more oil or butter as needed. Add about 1.5 tbsp tomato paste and a little honey, to take away the sourness and make sure everything is coated in it. Add one or two glasses of wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Let it reduce a little. Add the tomatoes and salt generously. Throw in the cheese rind. If you want to get fancy, this is a good time to add roasted red peppers. Allow to simmer for . . . well, drink the rest of the wine at least, stirring often and scraping the sides down, tasting each time. When the tomatoes have broken down to your liking, add the chiffonaded herbs and the lemon zest and remove from the heat and add some olive oil and some black pepper. Ideally, allow the sauce to cool completely and allow it to rest at least overnight. If the sauce is salty when it's cool, add some lemon juice and/or some honey. If it is too spicy, add some honey or sugar. If it tastes burnt, throw it away. Or eat it, bitterly.

Anyway, that's how I make sauce. Yeah, it comes out a little different each time, but I like the results I get.

Edit: Also, fish out the bay leaves and the cheese rind and discard them.

Edit 2: The proportions of the onion, carrot and celery should be roughly the same, but more carrot and onion than celery.