Although I like tomatoes, I get abdominal pain after eating them. I am sure I am not the only one. Some people get gout. Despite trying tomatoes in various forms, I always suffer from abdominal discomfort. Hence, I avoid them.
There is comfort in sitting down to a meal of pasta covered in a rich tomato sauce. Some of the most popular Italian foods contain tomatoes, so eliminating them from my diet has meant the end of dishes like spaghetti bolognaise, pizza and lasagne for me.
Yesterday I had a real yearning for a bowl of pasta covered in rich tomato sauce and I searched the internet. The closest alternative to tomato is capsicum, or bell pepper. I found a recipe from “Our Little Homestead” (https://ourlittlehomestad.org) called “No Tomato Spaghetti Sauce”.
The original recipe uses olive oil, but olives are off my list, too. I used rice bran oil instead and added zucchini and mushrooms.
I hope you enjoy my version.
Ingredients
Method
Cut the capsicum into pieces small enough to fry in a pan. Place the oil in the pan and heat it until warm enough to fry the capsicum. Place the capsicum pieces in the oil with the skin down and fry until the skin has charred black spots. When the skin is cooked, place a lid on the pan to soften the flesh. When cooked, remove it from the pan to cool.
Chop the onion and place in the pan with the garlic and stock cubes. Cook until the onion is transparent, then add the chicken to the pan.
While the chicken is browning, place the softened capsicum in a food processor and pulse until the texture resembles tomato paste. Add this to the browned chicken mixture and simmer for 5 minutes, then add the chopped zucchini and mushrooms. Simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the zucchini and mushrooms have softened.
Serve with pasta. I used red lentil noodles because they have a lower glycaemic index than wheat or rice pasta.
Enjoy!
