Recipes Vegetarian

Maribeth’s New Blog

March 2, 2016

Welcome to my new blog and thank you for visiting. I decided to create this blog as a way to communicate with my friends and family through food. As a graduate from Natural Gourmet Institute’s Chef’s Training Program, I am often asked for recipes, specializing in, but not limited to, vegetarian cuisine. I thought this would be a way to share those recipes and expand my creativity in the kitchen. Thank you for visiting my blog and I will leave you with this recipe…

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This sun-dried tomato sauce is one of my most asked for recipes. It’s inspired by my mother, a fantastic cook who hates the kitchen! She would make a version of this when I was growing up, but it has been adapted over the years. It’s easy to make ahead of time and delicious hot or room temperature. I will often prepare the sauce and set it aside until the pasta is done or I’m ready to serve the meal.

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If you’re short on time you can always buy sun-dried tomatoes in oil and combine them with the garlic in a blender, but I find soaking the tomatoes on your own oil makes a rich sauce that is full of texture and noticeably less greasy.

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For a final touch, I like to chiffonade basil and shave some parmesan with a vegetable peeler to garnish. To chiffonade, layer a few leaves of basil, roll them up, make a joke about that one time in college (just kidding mom!), and run your knife through to make thin ribbons.

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Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup French green lentils
  • 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 ounces sun-dried tomato paste or regular tomato paste
  • 3/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 pound of pasta of choice
  • Basil for garnish
  • Parmesan for garnish

Directions

  1. Cook the lentils: In a small pot on high heat, combine lentils with 1 1/2 cups of water – you could also use vegetable broth for a richer flavor. After the liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium with the lid partially on for 20-25 minutes. Drain any excess liquid and set aside. I usually take lentils off the heat when I can easily mash a lentil between my thumb and index finger.
  2. While lentils are cooking soak the sun-dried tomatoes in warm water for about 15 minutes. Once they are tender, slice the tomatoes into about 1/4 inch pieces.
  3. On medium heat, combine the oil and garlic. Don’t allow the garlic to brown or it will become bitter.
  4. When the garlic becomes a toasty color, add the sun-dried tomatoes and the sun-dried tomato paste until all ingredients are incorporated.
  5. Slowly stir in the vegetable broth – the texture will become creamy.
  6. Simmer on low heat for 10-12 minutes.
  7. Add the cooked lentils to the sauce until well combined.
  8. Toss the sauce in your pasta of choice and garnish with basil and parmesan.

Note: It can be hard to find, but I love Amore Sun-Dried Tomato paste. When the grocery store doesn’t carry it I’ll just use regular tomato paste. I usually have luck at Stop & Shop and Whole Foods.

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5 Comments

  • Reply Ahmad September 24, 2015 at 9:26 am

    Way to go, Chef Maribeth. It is such a neat, delicious website. Congratulations!

  • Reply Kathleen March 2, 2016 at 8:05 pm

    Looks so delicious! Can’t wait for you to make it for me again!

  • Reply Schnookie Stokes-Rodriguez March 2, 2016 at 8:19 pm

    Love this! Love you! So proud of you babes 🙂 This blog is now a tab on my home-screen. Dan’s belly is also thankful for this as of course-I intend to try all your recipes. Yum!

  • Reply Catherine March 2, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    Yum! What a great idea for a cozy winter evening. Congrats on the blog! Can’t wait to keep reading. xoxo

  • Reply Kaitlin March 2, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    Yum! Can’t wait to try this and all of your recipes! Xo

  • Leave a Reply to Ahmad Cancel Reply