Note: When you buy Kale at the store, one bunch is enough to triple this recipe. It freezes well, and when it's tripled, makes just under 7 quart jars of sauce. This sauce can be used in pastas, lasagna, or anything else you need a tomato sauce for. But I recommend not trying to triple the recipe in one step unless you have a REALLY large pot. My biggest soup pot wasn't big enough, and made for a REALLY messy kitchen.
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (28 oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained (I think I forgot to drain them...)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 cup shredded basil leaves
2 cups shredded kale leaves
1 large carrot, grated
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
- Heat the olive oil in a wide saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion (and red bell pepper) until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute, stirring constantly, for 1 more minute.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, kale, carrot, parsley, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. break the whole tomatoes apart with the back of a wooden spoon and stir until everything is well blended. When the mixture begins to bubble, lower the heat and cook on low, stirring occasionally, for about one hour.
-let cool slightly, then transfer the tomato sauce to a blender, working in batches if necessary. Blend until completely smooth, then transfer to a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until warm. Add the sugar, pepper and salt.
Just a note: we skipped the re-heating at the end because we were only making this sauce to freeze. So that meant we also left out the last 3 ingredients and it was still delicious. But I'm sure you could add them before you blend if you want to skip the re-heating step.
