another spaghetti recipe

I edited this on Mar. 8, 2009.  I changed the recipe and I like it more.

Ingredients:

2 16-oz cans tomatoes (we are lucky to can tomatoes from our garden)

1 leek or smallish onion (or 1/2 large)

1 smallish onion (or 1/2 large)

about 3 Tbsp pesto (this is from our garden too, made from basil, garlic, and walnuts---frozen) OR

some chopped fresh basil (or dried) and chopped garlic cloves (2-4, to taste) and some pine nuts.

1 large carrot or 2 medium

1 medium beet

some dried porchini mushrooms (~1/4 cup) 

8 oz fresh mushrroms (e.g., cremini)

1 green bell pepper, chopped

4 unsalted, uncured olives (optional)

Boil some water (1/2 cup?) in a small pot, turn off the stove, soak the porchini mushrooms for about 30 minutes.  Cook the sauce in two different pans because one will be blended in the blender.  So for the blended pan, cook the carrots, beets, and leek in some of the juice from the tomato cans.  You can cut up these vegetables in big pieces because they will be blended.  Take the pits out of the olives and add them.  In the other pan, chop up the rest of the onion and start cooking it in some of the tomato juice (from the cans).   If you don't have the pesto, chop the garlic and add it.  Let that cook, while cutting up the mushrooms (both the soaked and fresh) and green pepper.  Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and green pepper.  Add the pesto or basil and let that cook up.

While this is cooking, you can cook up your spaghetti or substitute.  I made whole wheat spaghetti for housemate (boil in water until tender) and made steamed brussels sprouts for me (I chop the ends and cut in half each one).  It was great!  I asked for advice on the Fuhrman forums and people said it is also good on broccoli and cauliflower.  I'll try that tomorrow.   You can also use a raw zucchini and spiralize it.  Or spiralize a potato and steam that for a few minutes---it's good.   Brussels sprouts is my favorite.

Once the pot of carrots, leeks and beets are done, blend them up in the blender.   Add to the other pan.  This makes a thick rich creamy sauce.  The carrots and beets add just a touch of sweetness.  I got the idea for beets from the forums.  I hope housemate doesn't read this because she doesn't like beats.  The olives blended up in the sauce are like, olive oil!  Only healthy!   However, it really is optional.  The walnuts in the pesto add a hearty flavor or if you don't have that I recommend the pine nuts (below).  The sauce is more brownish than usual spaghetti sauce but it's not gross.  We're used to eating brown cooked food from our meat-eating days.  

Since the pesto has walnuts in it I didn't add pine nuts, but if you don't have pesto, you can make a topping from pine nuts.  Toast them in a pan on the stove for a few minutes until light brown.  Then crush them in a mortar and pestle or some device---coffee grinder?   You can use these as a topping like parmesan cheese.  It's very good.