Today’s post is an experiment of sorts…
I used to blog about “food” all the time back in the day when Charles and I ate out 2-3 times a week, mostly restaurant reviews.
But in the past 2 years since we’ve locked down our financial plan, eating out has become a once or twice a month occurrence.
(And in direct correlation, the food posts fell to the wayside.)
Evenings spent exploring the restaurant scene or ordering delivery have transitioned to evenings in the kitchen, whipping up meals that don’t take alot of effort and are, most importantly, tasty.
In past year, since transitioning to a hybrid veggie/pescetarian diet, I found myself experimenting with new recipes and thought it might be fun to share with you the recipes that have passed the test of both my and Charles’s taste buds.
Please note that I don’t consider myself a pro at cooking.
Many of the recipes I’ll be sharing have been “doctored”.
This means I found a recipe online and liked it enough to make again.
But, the second time around, I made a few changes to make it better a.k.a. I doctored it up.
Today’s recipe is a garlic basil mushroom spaghetti sauce made from scratch.
A light yet savory sauce that hits the spot every single time I make it. Here’s what you’ll need:
– 10 roma tomatoes
– A packet or 8 oz. of baby portabella mushrooms
– 4 cloves of garlic (I loooove me some garlic)
– A stick or 1/3 cup of butter (also looooove me some butter)
– A handful of fresh basil (or parsley/cilantro if you’re not big fan of this herb)
– Spaghetti or angel hair
– Seasoning = Salt, pepper, lemon and sriracha sauce to your taste
– Love (because cooking with love always makes food taste better)
Prepping is easy. Simply cut everything up.
Photo above for reference on how I cut the garlic, basil, mushrooms, and tomatoes because I never understand what the recipes mean when they say tell you to “chop, dice or mince” something. Liiiike, what’s the difference?
Once that’s all prepped, add a little olive oil to your sauce pan and warm it up over medium-low heat.
After a minute or two, add the roma tomatoes and cover the pan. Let it simmer (a.k.a. low boil) and stir every once in a while until it cooks down to a chunky sauce.
This usually takes about 10-15 minutes so, while waiting, I put the water to boil for the pasta and wash whatever dishes are sitting in the sink… Because cleaning while cooking is key.
Once the tomatoes are sauced down, I add the mushrooms and let it simmer together for about 5 minutes.
Then add the 1/3 cup or stick of butter.
Some might say a 1/3 cup of butter is too much. If you’re one of those people, put less.
But if you’re like me and prefer your “butter with a side a bread”, add the 1/3 cup and thank me later.
Mix in the garlic and a little bit of salt and pepper to taste.
Once it’s seasoned to taste, stir in the basil last to really get the fresh aromatic taste of this herb.
At this point, the sauce is technically done…
But I’ve always preferred spaghetti sauce with a little tang and spice, so this is where I like to drizzle in some lemon juice and sriracha sauce right before I plate everything.
My favorite way to eat this is to pair it with the garlic naan from Trader Joe’s.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees, place the naan directly on the oven rack for 3-5 minutes and it’s ready to go.
And that’s that! Dinner (or lunch) is served. :)
Spaghetti sauce was doctored from this recipe on Pinch of Yum that included chicken and called for 5 roma tomatoes which I personally thought made very little sauce for 2 people. I added more roma tomatoes so it would make enough for us to eat for lunch the next day and added mushrooms as a hearty replacement for the chicken.
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Towards the end of last year, after a bit of “blog soul searching”, I came to realize that this space was becoming “heavy” on the travel posts and that I missed purposefully blogging about other lifestyle topics that have fallen to the wayside over time, i.e. food, our 600 sq. ft. apartment, and my self-portrait sunday posts.
So this year, I’m going to mix things up on the blog and I hope you’ll be down for the ride.
Working on today’s post was alot of fun even in the moments when I was struggling to cook and take photos at the same time lol. Keyword being “fun” which is exactly what blogging should be and what I’m trying to get back to.
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What’s a basic recipe that you like to “doctor” up?
xo, Setarra
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