Tuesday, January 7, 2014

NOmato Sauce (AIP)

I remember when I was a kid and eating spaghetti meant a huge plate full of noodles with a little dabble of spaghetti sauce on top. The sauce was alright, but let's be real. We wanted to get to the GOOD STUFF--the noodles. Then I developed a taste for tomatoes, and I liked more sauce. And then there was me on paleo. I wasn't sure about the noodle replacements: spaghetti squash, zoodles. They weren't cutting it. So then it became all about the sauce. Thick hearty tomato sauce heavily herbed and full of perfectly cooked ground meat or slathered on top of flavorful Italian sausages or meatballs. And then there was AIP. And the sauce stopped. Until a Facebook friend with nightshades sensitivity also offered up a recipe.

Skeptical but interested, I whipped up a batch. Took a bite. Enter instant confusion. My brain and tongue aren't sure what to believe. It looks, yeah, ok, pretty much like tomato sauce. It even smells like tomato sauce. It tastes like tomato sauce! But your sits there confused because you know there's not single damn tomato in it. Qu Boudica, the creator, calls it NOmato sauce. And it's great. The taste is much like a hearty marinara.

NOmato Sauce
6 carrots, peeled and diced
1 small beet, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic
3 celery ribs, diced
1 bay leaf
1 ½ cups chicken broth or water
1 tbsp Italian herb blend**
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (probably more)
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste (omit for AIP)

Put first 7 ingredients in a covered pot, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer until veggies are soft. Take out the bay leaf, blend well till smooth. Stir in 2 tbsp vinegar and Italian seasoning. Taste. Continue to add 1-2 tbsp vinegar, blending and tasting as you go until the tang is to your desired level (I used 6-7). Salt to taste.

*Special thanks to Qu for allowing me to share her recipe with all of my readers.*

**Italian herb blends are usually nightshade free as they only contain herbs like oregano, rosemary, basil, marjoram, etc. Double-check if you are buying a pre-made blend or better yet, create your own.