Grilled Vegetable Marinara

One of the most commonly asked questions I get regarding the fact that I don't cook with oil is, "how do you saute without oil?"    That's easy, I dry saute/steam.  By this I mean I use a non stick pan (you can use a regular pan, but I think it works best with a good quality, non stick pan).  I always get the pan hot before I put anything in it.  Mushrooms and onions create a lot of liquid on their own, so I just throw them in first, before any other vegetables.  I let them cook in the pan until they are stuck to the bottom, then I use a wooden or plastic spoon/spatula to begin to move them around.  After that I add about a quarter cup of liquid, either vegetable stock or water, and everything will lift of the pan and the fond (the brown bits on stuck to the pan) will melt into the liquid and add great flavor to whatever you're making.  

The other two things I do is either roast vegetables in the oven on a silicon sheet (silpat) or parchment paper, or, as with this particular recipe, I used my barbecue and grilled the vegetables right on the grates.  A little tidbit of information you should know about grilling, don't play with your food (I used to say don't play with your meat when I was a carnivore).  Vegetables may appear to stick to the grill, but when they're ready to be flipped, they'll let go of the grates on their own.....don't force them before they're ready.

6 red or yellow bell peppers

6 whole carrots peeled

6 celery spears

1 large onion, halved

12 whole garlic cloves

2 pints crimini mushrooms (baby portabellas)

1 box Pomi tomato puree

2 cans diced tomatoes (you can roast your own as described here) Roasted Tomatoes

2 cups vegetable stock (use this recipe to make your own) Roasted Vegetable Stock

2 tablespoons Red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon herbs de Provence

1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Grill all vegetables on the barbecue.  Cut onion in half and grill without peeling.  Put the garlic cloves on aluminum, but watch this as they cook really fast. 

When the bell peppers are blackened, put them in a closed brown paper bag for at least ten minutes.  When you take them out, using a paper towel, remove the black skin, rinse and throw in a Cuisinart.    (don't forget to remove the skin from the onion if you didn't peel it)

Break or cut the remaining vegetables into 2 to 3 inch pieces and put in the Cuisinart.  Add the all of the vegetables and the remaining ingredients to a pot and simmer for 2 hours.

What I do after I'm done is use an immersion blender to turn everything into a sauce.  If you don't own one, let the sauce cool and blend it in a cuisinart or blender.  (you can also keep it chunky if you want, or blend some of it and leave some chunky)

This freezes really well, so make a big batch and freeze it in useable amounts.