Aparnabiata Sauce

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the onions and cook for 3-5 minutes. Create a small bed so your garlic won’t burn and then add the garlic. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.

2. Next add the bell pepper and stir-fry veggies. I actually had frozen diced bell pepper, so I used that. By all means, use fresh veggies if you want!

3. Drain some of the liquid from the can of diced tomatoes, then add the diced tomatoes.

4. Add half the herbs and stir.

5. Add the crushed tomatoes and rest of the herbs, and stir well to combine all the ingredients.

6. Salt and pepper your dish at this point (don’t add too much though!).

7. Add in the tomato paste. Most cans of tomato paste come in 6-oz. cans, so use about 3/4 of that can.

8. Let the sauce come to a mild boil (let it simmer for up to 10-12 minutes).

9. Once the sauce has been bubbling away, add in the red wine vinegar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes and the cayenne pepper. Stir and taste. I had to do this a few times because I kept thinking it wasn’t spicy enough. So I added a lot more pepper flakes and a lot more cayenne pepper. Yum!

10. In the last 5 minutes of cook time, add in the Boca crumbles. They just need to heat through. You may need to season a bit more with herbs, salt, pepper, or other spices.

11. Serve warm with your favorite pasta. What you don’t use will last a while in the freezer. Enjoy!