Roasted garlic & Mushroom Marinara Sauce

Directions

• First up…peel your garlic! When I peel garlic, I place a knife on top of it and give it a good whack, which makes the skin peel right off. In this case, though, we want to roast the garlic whole, so make sure you don’t smash it into oblivion!

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• Roasting your garlic will take about 10 minutes, so peel it now and throw it in the air fryer. Only roast 15 of the 20 cloves of garlic (the other 5 will be minced and sautéed with your onions). No air fryer? No problem! Just toss your garlic in a conventional oven and crank up the heat! On the right, you can see how much garlic I saved to mince and sauté.

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• While your garlic is roasting, dice your onions, mince your remaining garlic, chop your chilies, and slice your mushrooms. The garlic only takes 8-10 minutes in the air fryer, so make sure you check on it while your dicing, mincing, and slicing–don’t burn it!

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• By the time your finish chopping up your mushrooms, garlic, chilies, and onions, your cooking garlic should be nice and roasted (and your kitchen will smell great!). Take it out of the air fryer/oven and chunk it up—-don’t dice or mince it! Just chop it into chunks.

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• Set your garlic, onions, and mushrooms aside and pour your canned tomatoes into a large bowl (not the puree). Set the empty cans aside, as you will rinse all the leftover tomato sauce into your pot later. It’s time to get dirty! Stick your hands right into the bowl of whole tomatoes and then squish and squeeze them. You want to end up with big oddly shaped chunks of tomato–don’t over think it!

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• Start cooking!
• Throw your onions and minced garlic in your sauce pan and sauté them up–no oil necessary!

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• Once your onions and garlic are soft and brown, add your mushrooms, roasted garlic, and spices (basil, oregano, salt, black pepper, chilies). Throw in a splash of water and sauté everything for 2-3 minutes, until everything is mixed up and the mushrooms have soaked up some flavor and started sweating a bit.

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• Now add your water, crushed tomatoes, and tomato puree. Use the empty cans of tomatoes and puree to add the water, rinsing all the leftover tomato sauce into the pot. You’ll need to add about 2 full cans of water to the pot. the sauce may look a little watery at first, but it will thicken up a bit as it simmers.

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• Finally, bring your sauce to a quick boil. Then turn the heat down to low, with just enough heat for the sauce to simmer. Simmer the sauce for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it seems to thick for your liking, just add a little water. Conversely, if it seems a little to thin for your liking, simmer for a bit longer–the longer it cooks the thicker it will get, and it won’t burn as long as you stir occasionally,

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• Serve
• Add sauce to your favorite whole grain pasta. If you have some fresh basil, it’s great to chop it up and throw it on top. I also love to sprinkle a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast on top–it’s delicious!

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