Break All the Rules Pasta Sauce

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I made this sauce tonight that came out really good. The thing is, I followed no hallowed techniques for cooking, reducing, or balancing flavors. I simply through what I thought would be good into it, and made it.

This is a robust sauce that would go great on rotini, or penne pasta, something that would stand up to the sauce's rich flavor. It would also be great as a pizza sauce.

Here are the ingredients and how I made it.

Ingredients:
*2 cups home made tomato juice from ripe garden tomatoes that I
picked from last summer's garden (or equal amount of store bought
tomato juice)
*1 carrot, washed, peeled, and cut into chunks
*1 stalk celery, washed and cut into small chunks
*10 slices deli pepperoni
*5 slices deli hard salami
*1/2 tsp. dried oregano
*1/2 tsp. dried basil
*1/8 tsp. granulated garlic powder
*1/4 cup diced onion

Cut the sausage slices into quarters and drop into your blender, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour the blended tomato sauce into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes to cook the carrot, and distribute the flavors. Place in a suitable container and chill until you make you're ready to make your pasta, or pizza dinner. It's ready to use after the simmer.

Now as good as this sauce came out, I took it a step further. But I have to wait to find out how good an idea it was. I used 1 1/2 cups of the tomato juice, and then after the sauce simmered, add 1/2 cup of water that had one packet of Knox unflavored gelatine dissolved in it. I stirred it in and poured the sauce into a flat, wide bowl and place it in the fridge to set up. I hope to have a very tasty aspic to use with crackers and thin shavings of romano cheese. If it sets correctly, it will be great.

We shall see.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Tried the aspic just now, with Keeble Club crackers, and thin shavings of romano cheese. All I can say is that this experiment is an unqualified success. It's just plain yummy. What an appy this would make at an Italian themed dinner party, or for that night when you just want to sit, watch a movie, and munch. This would be great with meatballs on a meatball sub. The aspic would liquify into sauce when heated. The flavor is just superb. I'm loving this stuff. Well, gotta go. I have to shave some more cheese.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[kadesma]

Tried the aspic just now, with Keeble Club crackers, and thin shavings of romano cheese. All I can say is that this experiment is an unqualified success. It's just plain yummy. What an appy this would make at an Italian themed dinner party, or for that night when you just want to sit, watch a movie, and munch. This would be great with meatballs on a meatball sub. The aspic would liquify into sauce when heated. The flavor is just superb. I'm loving this stuff. Well, gotta go. I have to shave some more cheese.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Your aspic sounds like a keeper and I plan to give it a try. Thank you
kades

 

[Soma]

Chief Longwind: You are calling your "robust sauce" an aspic now? to me an aspic is a jellied thing.....is this how it turned out? how does it look?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Chief Longwind: You are calling your "robust sauce" an aspic now? to me an aspic is a jellied thing.....is this how it turned out? how does it look?

Yes, if you read past the basic recipe, you will see that I added unflavored gelatine to the sauce, and cooked it, both to make sure the gelatine was completely dissolved, and to cook the carrots, that even after blending remained almost gritty in texture. The sauce cooked for ten minutes and all was great. I chilled it, and it looks like the picture below. Sorry, I can't send the flavor or aroma to you as well. Although, since it is a chilled aspic, all of that wonderful flavor stays trapped, rather than making my house smell good.

I have to admit that though this is a richly flavored sauce, when heated, it is a bit thin. If it was made with tomato paste added in, the aspic would make an easy substance to use as a filling for ravioli, tortellini, manicota, or cannelloni. Here's the picture.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Soma]

ok, thank you Chief!.....I hadn't read the entire recipe, so went back.....that is amazing! looks pretty, AND delicious.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

ok, thank you Chief!.....I hadn't read the entire recipe, so went back.....that is amazing! looks pretty, AND delicious.

Thanks. I have to say, I tried it yesterday, with some friends. But I only shared a bit, so they could have a taste, with the cheese (they were on the way out the door with DW when I thought to share some). They really liked it. On crackers, it is pretty good. It really comes into its own when served with the shaved Pecorino-Romano. Asiago, or Parmigiano-Regiano would be good with it as well.

After the others had been given a sample, I simply heated the aspic in the microwave to liquefy it, and poured it back into the bowl. Your could also make it in a gelatine mold. Put shrimp and a bit of horseradish in it, and omit the pepperoni, salami, basil and oregano. That would be really good as well. I believe we could start a whole thread of creative alterations on this aspic. That might be a fun challenge for our talented little group here on DC. It doesn't take long to make, and makes such a good appetizer ingredient.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[chopper]

Thanks chief. This sounds really good. It is always you who takes care of us!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Thanks chief. This sounds really good. It is always you who takes care of us!

Not true. There are so many talented cooks and chefs on this site who contribute new and wonderful recipe. Me, I just always have to re-invent the wheel, and give it a new kind of spoke or two.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Kylie1969]

This sounds delicious, thanks for sharing

 

[buckytom]

did anyone else notice that the chief thought to share his aspic as his guest were one foot out the door?

hmmm.....

 

[Somebunny]

did anyone else notice that the chief thought to share his aspic as his guest were one foot out the door?

hmmm.....

Hmmmm.....indeed!

 

[chopper]

did anyone else notice that the chief thought to share his aspic as his guest were one foot out the door?

hmmm.....

Maybe he is saving it for us.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Maybe he is saving it for us.

Snip's coming over. She'll be making some of that great looking goulash from the other thread. She's thinking of loading herself into a very large cannon, safely wrapped in a sabot, I hope, and shooting herself from South Africa. So feel free. I'll save some of the aspic. On crackers, with a slice of pepperoni, and some shaved cheese, it tastes surprisingly like cold pizza. Yum.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[chopper]

Snip's coming over. She'll be making some of that great looking goulash from the other thread. She's thinking of loading herself into a very large cannon, safely wrapped in a sabot, I hope, and shooting herself from South Africa. So feel free. I'll save some of the aspic. On crackers, with a slice of pepperoni, and some shaved cheese, it tastes surprisingly like cold pizza. Yum.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Oh, yummy, and me, without a cannon.