This is a recipe for 4 persons, tested on Friday night. It was a huge success.
It can be made with or without tempeh (fermented soy beans) as a ground meat-ersatz. It’s a nice recipe for the winter months, where fresh tomatoes are too watery to serve as a base for a veggie pasta.
You’ll need:
- olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 small onions
- 2 zucchini
- a handful frozen peas
- high quality black olives
- canned tomatoes, cut in little pieces
- a little black olive tapenade
- a little tomato purée
- 1 kg spaghetti or linguini (2 packs)
Here’s how it works:
- Heat the olive oil (low heat), add the garlic and the onions.
- Let them simmer at low heat for 10 minutes
- Add a teaspoon of tapenade and a teaspoon of tomato paste
- Cut the zucchini into small bits, and add it to the onion/garlic/tapenade mix
- Let simmer (low to medium heat) for 15 minutes
- Defroze the peas (steam them for a few minutes or cook them in boiling water for a minute), add them
- Add the canned tomatoes and let simmer for another 20 minutes, allowing the aromas to blend
Tempeh (optional):
- steam the tempeh for 10 minutes, then shred it as you would do with Swiss cheese
- marinate in olive oil, with black olive tapenade, garlic and onions for at least 2 hours
- sauté the tempeh in a separate pan for 10 minutes, then add to the sauce
- let simmer for another 5 minutes
Enjoy with a nice Bandol red wine.
