Category: Gluten-Free Sauces & Dips

Quick Tomato Sauce – Twiins Style 🍝

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Quick Tomato Sauce - Twiins Style

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy

Don’t have time to make a pot of tomato sauce? This quick and easy sauce can be made in no time at all with staple ingredients from your pantry.

Ingredients

  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian stewed tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon EVOO
  • 2 frozen Dorot garlic cubes
  • 2 Tablespoons Hunt’s Italian style tomato paste with garlic & basil
  • 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning (more or less to taste)
  • Immersion blender

    Directions

    1. In a small saucepan on medium heat, heat the oil and add the garlic cubes. Sauté until fragrant, about a minute.
    2. Add tomato paste and stir well for a minute. Add the stewed tomatoes and stir well until the tomato paste is blended.
    3. Add 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning and simmer for 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender right in the saucepan,  purée the tomato mixture and simmer another 5-10 minutes.

    Note: Makes enough sauce for our Baked Stuffed Eggplant & Sardines (4) plus a few spoonfuls to top spaghetti.

    Pantry & Freezer Staples:

    2 cans stewed tomatoes, plain or Italian style, preferably Hunt’s

    2 cans diced tomatoes, plain or Italian style, preferably Hunt’s

    2 cans tomato paste, preferably Hunt’s with garlic & basil

    1 tray Dorot’s frozen garlic cubes (you can get these at Target and most Harris Teeter grocery stores)

    Add 2 T sauce on top of mozzarella then sprinkle with grated Locatell and top with additional shredded mozzarella
    Served over whole grain spaghetti.

     


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    Pistachio Pesto Sauce

    Published on by Twiins in the KitchenLeave a comment


    • Servings: 6
    • Difficulty: Easy

    We love pistachios! They are so versatile whether eating them from the shell, making an amazing gelato, encrusting fish filets or turning them into a wonderful pesto sauce for pasta! On my recent trip to Greece, I made sure to bring home an ample supply of Greek pistachios, determined to use them in cooking. So yesterday Barbara and I, while shopping for dinner, picked up 4 lbs of sea scallops, the large ones you most often find in restaurants, not the tiny bay ones. As you may remember from our recent pesto post we have an abundance of basil from our gardens so making more pesto was the best way to use it. This time instead of using traditional pignoli (pine nuts) we would use those wonderful pistachios from Greece (California pistachios are fine too). I also wanted to make the pesto using the old, traditional mortar and pestle to test if there really is a difference. Well, after 30 minutes of crushing pistachios into a paste by hand and pummeling only 1/4 of the basil our hands decided it was time to take out the food processor! I must admit, the pesto came out extremely creamy which I believe was the result of the mortar and pestle for half the process, but as far as taste goes the food processor did a fine job. Our pan-seared scallops topped with pistachio pesto were out of this world delicious! 😋😋

    Ingredients

    • 4 cups loosely packed basil leaves that have been soaked in cold water then dried using a salad spinner to drain all the water without damage to the leaves.
    • 1 cup salted pistachios, shelled
    • 4 cloves garlic (frozen cubes work well as they are uniform in size)
    • 6-8 tablespoon EVOO (preferably Ligurian EVOO)
    • 4 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
    • 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano grated cheese (do not add cheese if you plan to freeze the pesto for later use. Once defrosted the cheese can be mixed in)

    Directions

    1. In a food processor add pistachios and garlic. Pulse into a smooth paste.
    2. Add the basil in small amounts then pulse after each addition until all the basil has been added and the mixture is creamy & smooth. Slowly (slow is key here) add the EVOO until emulsified.
    3. Add lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time.
    4. If you are making to freeze,  🛑 ✋ stop here and put into freezable containers & place in the freezer.
    5.  Add cheese and pulse to incorporate.
    6. If too dry add additional EVOO slowly, 1 Tablespoon at a time.

    Notes:  If you plan to freeze for future use, do not add the cheese. Cheese should be added after being thawed.  Great over pasta, fish, chicken, potatoes, sandwiches, etc…

    Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.

    Freshly picked Basil
    Pistachio Pesto Scallops

     

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    Pesto Sauce

    Published on by Twiins in the KitchenLeave a comment


    • Servings: 6
    • Difficulty: Easy

    This summer we have an abundance of basil from our hay bale gardens and have been making pesto for a variety of meals, including breakfast! Not only is pesto delicious on pasta but it's just as delicious on fish, vegetables, chicken or just about anything! Last year our friend, Jane Hall, grew tomatoes and basil in hay bales...we grew ours in traditional dirt. The difference was amazing...the hay bale crop far exceeded the traditional dirt crop and made us believers. Gary bought the bales at the local hardware store then quickly got to preparing them with fertilizer and water. After two weeks of daily watering, we planted our basil and tomatoes along with some other herbs and couldn't be happier with the results. If you never tried this method before, it's definitely worth the minimal effort.😋😋

    Ingredients

    • 3 Tablespoons Pignoli Nuts (Italian pine nuts) lightly toasted
    • 1 tsp Kosher salt
    • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
    • 2  cups fresh sweet Italian basil leaves, packed tightly (approximately 2 very large bunches)
    • 8 Tablespoons EVOO, preferably Ligurian as it makes a big difference in taste
    • 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, or Pecorino Romano, freshly grated

    Directions

    1. In a food processor add toasted pignoli nuts, salt, and garlic cloves. Pulse into a smooth paste.
    2. Add the basil in small amounts then pulse after each addition until all the basil has been added and the mixture is creamy & smooth. Slowly (slow is key here) add the EVOO until emulsified.
    3. If you are making to freeze,  🛑 ✋ stop here and put into freezable containers & place in the freezer.
    4. Add cheese and pulse to incorporate.
    5. If too dry add additional EVOO slowly, 1 Tablespoon at a time.

     

    Notes: If you plan to freeze for future use, do not add the cheese. Cheese should be added after being thawed. Great over pasta, fish, chicken, potatoes, sandwiches, etc…

    Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment below or Tag @twinsinthekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #twiinsinthekitchen.

    Freshly picked Basil
    Pulsing the Pesto Sauce
    Pesto Egg & Tomato Breakfast on toast
    Pesto Roast Chicken & Tomato Lunch on toasted bread
    Pesto Rigatoni Dinner
    Basil growing in hay bale alongside the tomatoes & parsley. This is one of 3 basil plants in the hay bale which have been cut down several times this summer!
    Hay Bale Basil

     

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