Great Canadian spaghetti sauce
Chatelaine
* PLUS Cooking time: 40 minutes
Photo, Erik Putz.
Our test kitchen assistant, Victoria Walsh, loves this specialty of her dad, David Williams. Unlike most pasta sauces, it's loaded with chunky veggies and a rich combo of Canadian classics: bacon, maple syrup and beer. Yum, eh?
Ingredients
-
250-g pkg
sliced
bacon
, about 8 slices
-
2
onions
-
2 227-g pkgs
sliced button or cremini
mushrooms
, or a mix
-
355-mL can
beer
-
2
sweet
bell peppers
, preferably different colours
-
2
carrots
-
2 796-mL cans
plum
tomatoes
-
156-mL can
tomato paste
-
2 tbsp
maple syrup
, or brown sugar
-
10
garlic cloves
, minced
-
2 tbsp
dried
basil
-
2 tbsp
oregano leaves
-
1/2 tsp
hot-red-chili-flakes
-
1/2 tsp
salt
-
1/4 tsp
ground black
pepper
-
2
bay leaves
Instructions
- Slice bacon into thin strips, then place in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Stir occasionally until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop onions.
- When bacon is crispy, add mushrooms. Stir often until they start to soften, 4 to 6 minutes. Then stir in onions. Pour in beer. Scrape up and stir in any brown bits from pan bottom. Increase heat to high. Boil, stirring occasionally, to develop flavour, 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop peppers and carrots. Stir tomatoes into beer mixture. Using a potato masher or wooden spoon, gently crush tomatoes. Then stir in peppers, carrots, tomato paste, maple syrup, garlic, seasonings and bay leaves.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered and stirring often, until sauce is thickened, 25 to 30 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Toss with cooked spaghetti. Sauce will keep well, covered and refrigerated, up to 5 days or freeze up to 3 months. Defrost and reheat sauce in microwave. Or place frozen sauce in a saucepan with a little water. Heat over medium, stirring often.
Nutrition (per serving)
- Calories
- 183,
- Protein
- 5.8 g,
- Carbohydrates
- 22.5 g,
- Fat
- 8.8 g,
- Fibre
- 4.2 g,
- Sodium
- 491 mg.
