The Anything Red Sauce

A flexible sauce for our crazy times.

So, what’s the plan when there’s no plan?—Got you something—cooking wise at least. A non-recipe idea to whip up some crazy fast, amazing good-on-anything sauce that delivers.

Here we go.

1) BUILD A SENSIBLE BASE: Equal amounts of roasted or stewed tomatoes and roasted red bell pepper (one for depth and tang, the other for richness and silkiness) - you can roast them yourself in the oven, or you can buy them already roasted, or you can use a good quality pasta sauce with red bell pepper in it-all the other ingredients in there will be a bonus.

2) TAKE EFFECTIVE And EASY ACTION: Puree in a blender with some salt until the mixture is super smooth. How much salt, say 1/2 tsp for 1 cup of sauce, or to your liking. (no salt if you are using a pasta sauce as your base)

3) BE CREATIVE, BE GREAT: Adapt your sauce to your palate and your dish. You want it spicy? Add chipotles in adobo or chile flakes for a good kick. Love it fishy? Add some anchovies—and invite me over. Add garlic and onion in any form (roasted, sautéed, pickled, powdered). Add herbs, dry or fresh like oregano, thyme, basil, cilantro, or parsley. Add nuts and seeds, like almonds, , hazelnuts, sesame seeds or sunflower seeds. Add wine, add vinegar, add miso, soy sauce, the brine from olives, sumac, piquillos, and the list goes on…..

For the one in this photo: sautéed garlic, apple cider vinegar, lemon, hot paprika, cayenne and one piquillo.