When Life Gives You Tomatoes, Make Pasta Sauce

A twist on a gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan friendly linguine primavera.

That’s how the saying goes, right? As the fall feels arrive, I’m thinking about bright savory dishes, which makes me think of tomato season. Tomato season means summer, sunshine, and that smell of tomatoes ripening on a green vine. It also means tomato sandwiches, salsa, and homemade pasta sauce. And, the best way to have pasta is outside on a cloth covered table, a bottle of red wine, and with great company.

This evening, the pasta will be a gluten-free linguine primavera with a twist, served cozily indoors. The twist is a, ‘let’s use whatever is in the fridge’ type of twist. What is in the fridge on this particular evening are king mushrooms, green chiles, and of course there are cherry tomatoes.

A primavera sauce is easy to make from scratch. A traditional primavera includes a vegetable medley including bell peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, garlic, and herbs. All ingredients that I did not have on hand at the moment. Instead, I created a version that includes mushrooms, chiles, and three simple ingredients for the sauce base, tomatoes, water, and salt. Deliciously simple.

The gluten-free noodle of choice for the dish was a Thai gluten-free rice noodle. The long rectangular shape makes it a perfect gluten-free option for linguine. Hearty enough to handle an Italian pasta sauce or mac and cheese (see lasts weeks post), chewy, and bouncy enough to be a satisfying replacement for a Japanese udon. Plus, they are naturally gluten-free. A staple for any gluten-free person.

I could go on forever about how amazing Thai rice noodles are, but this post is about homemade tomato sauce. A sauce that is simple, quick, and with fresh tomatoes, can be an even healthier option than store bought sauce.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free noodles of your choice

Eight — 12 cherry tomatoes per person

1 green chile per person

King mushrooms (approximately 1/2 mushroom per person)

Water

Salt

Pepper

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Cooking instructions:

Boil a pot of water. Add noodles and cook to your desired consistency. Try a noodle to make sure they are cooked.

Strain and set aside.

Wash vegetables. Chop oyster mushrooms into long slices or round discs. Finely chop chiles. Slice cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Heat a sauce pan to medium heat. Add olive oil after the pan is heated. Add tomatoes, chiles, and mushrooms to the pan. Fry mushrooms to a golden brown on each side, then remove.

Continue to simmer down the tomatoes along with the green chiles. Continuously add water and dashes of salt as the tomatoes cook. Smash down the tomatoes to make the sauce smooth.

When the tomatoes have simmered down to a smooth consistency, add the mushrooms back in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer together for two-three minutes.

Spoon the sauce over the pasta noodles and enjoy a bowl of delicious linguine primavera.

Bon appetit!

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Written without AI.