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“Tomato-free tomato sauce” sounds a lot like an oxymoron. It’s a bit like saying “chocolate-free chocolate chip cookies” — doesn’t make sense, right?

In this case, the idea of a “tomato” sauce refers to a puree of vegetables, made with Italian spices, that’s slightly sweet and slightly acidic.

The flavor is intended to mimic a typical Italian-style tomato sauce without using nightshades.

It can be used to substitute for regular tomato sauce any situation in which you would otherwise use it. For example, in pasta, on pizza, in shakshouka, as a marinara-style dipping sauce, etc. (However, I don’t think it’d do well as ketchup because it’s not very sweet.)

This particular tomato-free tomato sauce is designed to mimic Italian tomato sauce, but you could recreate it for other cuisines by swapping in different herbs and spices. You could also omit them all together for an all-purpose sauce so you can add herbs to later on as needed. 

This recipe is vegan and free of major allergens. It’s also AIP compliant if you omit the black pepper!

Items Needed

• A big pot and a skillet, OR an Instant Pot
• A potato masher, a blender or food processor, or a fork and lots of patience

Ingredients

• 2 medium beets
• 1 large onion
• 8 medium carrots
• 4 medium celery stalks
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP elimination phase)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice, to taste
• 1.5 cups water or broth

Instructions

1. Chop beets, onion, carrots, and celery; dice garlic.
2. Sauté onions for 5 minutes or so. Add garlic and herbs, then sauté until fragrant.
3. Add carrots, celery, beets, and lemon juice; sauté another 3 minutes or so.
4. Add liquid. If using a regular pot, simmer until vegetables are extremely tender, almost falling apart. If using an Instant Pot, pressure cook for 15 minutes.
5. After the sauce cools*, mash or puree to get your desired texture. You can also simmer it to reduce the liquid, giving you a tomato paste instead.
6. Freeze or can whatever you’re not going to use.

*Please wait for the sauce to cool a bit before you start working with it, especially if you put it in a blender or food processor. If you put super hot foods in a blender, then it can actually lead to injury! Here’s an article that explains in more detail how to safely blend hot foods.

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