Nancy's 20-Minute Tomato Sauce

Did you miss our Virtual Thriver class on a Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet? If so, you missed out on several simple tasty recipes that we created to help add veggies into your diet. We featured this recipe in the handout and it’s a staple at Dr. Palermo’s house. Try it for a Sunday supper this weekend!

20-Minute Tomato Sauce

• 1 ½ cups canned, peeled plum tomatoes in juice                 
• 2 T tomato paste
• 3 T extra virgin olive oil                                                         
• 3-5 fresh basil leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, minced                                                          
• ¼ t salt and ¼ t pepper

Drain tomatoes and reserve juice. Chop up tomatoes with knife. Warm 2 T olive oil in pan and add garlic. Sauté until garlic is soft but not browned (3-4 minutes). Add tomato paste to garlic and stir well. Add tomatoes and juice from can. Simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes. Tear the basil leaves and stir into sauce. Add salt and pepper and remaining 1 T of olive oil and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. You can use an immersion blender to make a smoother sauce.

Makes 2 cups of sauce. Can freeze one cup for up to 3 months.

**If you want to make the sauce savory you can add:

• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil
• ¼ cup capers
• 3-4 anchovies or 1 T anchovy paste

Add above ingredients with tomatoes and follow recipe.

**If you want to add meat to the sauce start by cooking 1 lb of ground beef, pork or chicken or even organic Italian sausage with ½ cup chopped onion. Break up the meat while cooking. Continue the recipe from the beginning with the meat

**If you want to go meatless then add 1 cup of cooked lentils to the tomato sauce before you start to simmer. You can also add ½ meat and ½ lentils if desired.