I created this Hidden Veggies Red Sauce for my Infamous Ratsos post. I figured the Ratso boys would benefit from some extra vegetables in their dinner! This recipe makes a large batch and could easily be halved. Or adapted if you want to swap out any of the vegetables.
This recipe makes a pretty large batch so I used half the batch for meatball sandwiches and the other half I froze in a ziploc bag and I’ve been breaking off bits of it, reheating it with a little chicken stock plus cream for a delicious tomato soup.
The base of this soup is lots of chopped up veggies! I used onion, bell peppers, carrots, celery, and cauliflower. After sautéing the vegetables and then simmering with the tomatoes, I pureed everything with my immersion blender. You can also use a regular blender, but an immersion blender makes life so much easier! While all those vegetables do affect the sauce’s consistency, I did not notice a difference when I served it with turkey meatballs on fresh french bread for the meatball subs. It was delicious!
If you make this recipe, I’d love your feedback. And, as always, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments with any questions you may have!
Hidden Veggies Red Sauce
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 head of cauliflower, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 oz tomato paste
2 Tablespoon of granulated sugar
2-28 oz cans of whole peeled or diced tomatoes
1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add all of the diced veggies, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 15 minutes until the veggies have softened.
- Add the minced garlic, stirring. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the tomato paste and sugar, stirring to coat the vegetables.
- Add the diced tomatoes and broth. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. If you have time, the sauce will taste best if it’s allowed to simmer for 30-45 minutes.
- Puree with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.
Novel Bakery 
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