Meatless “Meat” Sauce With Chickpeas and Mushrooms

Submitted by gailanng

"From Cook’s Illustrated. Note:  Sauce can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to a month.  Enough to serve over 2 pounds of pasta."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 8-12

ingredients

• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1⁄4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

directions

1. Pulse mushrooms in two batches in food processor until chopped into 1/8- to 1/4-inch pieces, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Do not clean workbowl.).
2. Heat 5 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are browned and fond has formed on bottom of pot, about 8 minutes.
3. While mushrooms cook, pulse onion in food processor until finely chopped, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Do not clean workbowl.) Transfer onion to pot with mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, oregano and pepper flakes in bowl.
4. Add tomato paste to pot and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is rust-colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and push vegetables to sides of pot. Add garlic mixture to center and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in tomatoes and broth; bring to a simmer over high heat.  Once simmering, reduce heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. .
5. Next pulse chickpeas in food processor until chopped into uniformly 1/4 inch-or-so pieces; about 7 - 10 pulses.  Transfer chopped chickpeas to a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear.  Drain well. Not rinsing the chickpeas after pulsing in the food processor may make the sauce too thick.   After draining and rinsing, add the chickpeas to the sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. .
6. If sauce is too thin for your taste, let simmer uncovered until thickened. If sauce is on the thicker side, reserve some of the pasta's cooking water and use to thin out the sauce.
7. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.  .