I make - Tomato porcini sauce

I discovered the combination of tomato and porcini with Anna Del Conte. Her recipe calls for no more than five ingredients but the end result packs loads of flavor. Indeed, porcini, a famous power house of umami, lends a deep savory and earthy note into the final sauce without using any meat.

Over time, I've seen other variations of tomato porcini sauce. One caught my eyes which uses parsley and tomato puree/paste, not the canned tomatoes. Tomatoes are also known to be full of umami. I wanted to find out how the flavor could be further deepened by using its concentrated form, like in the paste. I adapted the recipe to add a little bit body to the sauce by using a small amount of chopped carrot and celery. The end result, wow, is a flavor bomb. This is not the usual tomato sauce as you know it. It's a veggie sauce which will make any carnivore happy.

Tomato porcini sauce (adapted from here)

- 1 cup of loosely packed dried porcini mushrooms
- a bunch of Italian flat parsley, stalks and leaves (about 2 cups loosely packed)
- 5 to 6 large garlic cloves
- 1 small yellow onion, cut into large chunks

- 1 small carrot

- 1 rib of celery
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 150 g tomato puree/paste (I use double concentrate strength)

- 1 can of peeled tomato (~400 g)

- salt and pepper to season

Quickly rinse the porcini mushrooms with cold water, swirling them in the water once or twice. Remove the mushroom and place into a heat resistant container. Pour freshly boiled water in, enough to submerge the mushroom, about 1 1/2 cups. Leave the mushroom to plump up for at least 20 minutes while you prepare the rest.

Place parsley, garlic, onion, carrot and celery in a food processor and pulse into a coarse chop, about 10 pulses. Set aside. Alternatively you could use a knife to chop them finely.

Strain the porcini from its soaking liquor. Reserve the liquor and carefully separate most liquid from the sediments sitting at the bottom of the container. Chopping the mushroom is optional. You could if you like fine texture in the end.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add oil and butter. When butter melts, add in the vegetable mixture. Cook until onions are translucent and the juice from vegetables disappears. Stir in the porcini and tomato puree. Mix until thoroughly incorporated. You want to cook the tomato puree a little bit so that the flavor comes out (also healthy components such as lycopene and vitamin A get released from tomatoes). Tip in one can of tomatoes. Cover and simmer over the lowest possible heat for 60 minutes, adding water if the sauce becomes too thick and stirring from time to time.

Season with sea salt and black pepper. I like to put some sugar (say 1 teaspoon) into my tomato dishes to have the right balance of acidity and sweetness. It's up to you.

Great on pasta, steamed rice, or as a dressing sauce for vegetables or grilled fish/meat. It's a wonderful stuff!