July 6: Cooking with Angela!

I get the feeling that sometimes, people think I can't do things. Like cook things that don't use soy sauce. Or integrate left overs into dinner in new and surprising ways. But I can. This pasta sauce, adapted from Alton Brown's pantry-friendly recipe, turned out really well, especially considering I added no extra salt! [extra because the eggplant had salt on it already] Like...surprisingly yummy.



Ingredients
1 (28-ounce) cans whole, peeled plum tomatoes
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 dried bay leaf
1 onion
1 carrot
Leftover eggplant
oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
Tequila, for deglazing
Black pepper

Directions
In a sieve over a medium non-reactive saucepot, strain the tomatoes of their juice into the sauce pot. Add the vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and basil to the tomato juice. Stir and cook over high heat. Once bubbles begin to form on the surface, reduce to a simmer. Allow liquid to reduce by 1/2 or until liquid has thickened to a loose syrup consistency.

Cut carrot and onion into uniform sizes and combine with olive oil and garlic in pan over medium heat. Once everything is tender, add capers (chopped) and tomatoes and eggplant (sliced). When things are browned and stuff has started to stick to the pan with caramelizy goodness, add tequila to deglaze.

Once things are loose again, add sauce mixture and some black pepper. Done!