This comforting pasta sauce uses one of my favourite herbs of all time: basil.
Did you know that basil is an anti-inflammatory, and also has anti-bacterial properties?
Even better, it smells like my childhood and the food I grew up with. My family made a lot of pesto, tomato, basil and boccocini salads, and almost every pasta dish.
I wanted to make an affordable, hearty dish that would take my fiancé – John – and I through the week and add a little flavour to our lunches.
So again, going back to my childhood, I made one of my favourite comfort dishes: bolognese sauce. Bolegnese is a meat based pasta sauce that originates from Bologna, Italy.
While it is usually made with ground beef, I made it with lean ground turkey from one of my favourite local farms. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can always use ground tempeh or beans in its place.
I used a basic, store bought basil tomato sauce as the base, and added some celery, kale, sundried tomato and pesto for extra flavour and texture.
This sauce took me around 20 minutes top to make, and I paired it with some pasta for my John’s lunches, and some steamed vegetables for myself.
We both loved the sauce, and now John has some great lunches all packed up to get him through the work week!
- Olive oil
- 2 stalks of celery
- Bunch of kale
- Ground turkey (or ground tempeh/tofu/beans to make it vegan)
- Jar of basil tomato sauce
- 4 sundried tomatoes
- 2 roasted red peppers
- fresh basil
- Simmer chopped celery and kale in olive oil until glossy
- Add ground turkey or vegan alternative and saute on med-low until fully cooked
- Add tomato sauce
- Add fresh basil, sundried tomatoes and red pepper
- Serve over pasta of your choice, on its own, or with steamed vegetables
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Man that looks good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anything with ground turkey in it, I am usually a fan of!
You’d love this!! So easy and delish!