This most recent in my series of spaghetti sauce recipes is thick and non-peppery, ideal for use in Stuffed Shells.

We got a winter farm share this year, and last week it included two turnips, just two, a big one and a small one.  When we divided the veggies with our friends, we got the small turnip.  It’s hard to figure out what to do with just one turnip!  I had no plans for it until I was getting out the onions for this sauce and decided on a whim to try using the turnip, too.  You cannot taste it in the finished sauce, but it added nutrients!  It also sweetened the sauce so that I did not need to add any honey or sugar to reduce the “bite”.

Our farm crate also included an entire grocery bag stuffed full of greenhouse-grown kale, in tight clumps with much smaller, curlier leaves than the kale we normally get in the summer.  The “2 small heads” used in this recipe produced about 4 cups of shredded kale.

Here are the instructions/ingredients/method for approximately reproducing this batch of sauce:

• Peel and dice 2 small yellow onions.
• Peel 1 tiny turnip and mince into very little bits.  (Daniel did this part–I, being less patient and more prone to mincing my fingertips, would have grated it.)
• Place large pot over medium-high heat.  Add 2 Tbsp. olive oil and use large spoon to spread it around to cover bottom of pot.  Add onion and turnip.  When it starts to sizzle, reduce heat to low.
• Meanwhile, remove leaves of 2 small heads kale from the tough main stems, and shred them.
• Notice strong turnip aroma.  Pause the kale-shredding to add to the pot 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 Tbsp. dried basil, and 1 Tbsp. dried oregano.  Mix well.  Aroma will improve.
• Finish shredding kale.  Mix it into the pot.  Cook about 2 more minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are very browned.
• Add 106-oz. can of tomato puree (get these large cans at GFS or Costco), 1 tsp. sea salt, and 5 smallish cloves crushed garlic.
• Turn up heat until sauce starts bubbling, then turn it down just to the point where it is bubbling a little but not so much that it’s difficult to stir safely.  Keep a lid on it when not stirring, to reduce splatters onto nearby surfaces.
• Simmer as long as convenient.  I gave this batch 53 minutes–longer than usual–and that enhanced the flavor.

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