"A Little Sugar in My Bowl" Roasted Garlic & Shiraz Spaghetti Sauce

Also, a picture of Nina Simone--
she's way more gorgeous to stare at anyways...

When I realized I *still* had a fiendish desire for more pasta this weekend, I decided to whip a sauce together using just what I happened to have on hand. The end result is a very sweet pasta sauce, with a bit of rich and buxomy-type depth to it. I originally had 1 t. of sugar added to the onions while caramelizing them, but in all truth, I'd leave it out or most of you might find it a bit *too* sweet.

The end results tasted kind of like licking a dark cherry-wood grand piano in a wine-filled nightclub during the 1950s.

In fact, it's kind of like licking the silken skin of that throaty lounge singer who has her long legs draped like water across the top of that very same piano. Think Nina Simone and not John Malkovitch, and you've hit the nail on the head.

INGREDIENTS

• One 28-oz. can of crushed tomatoes


• 1 T. olive oil


• 1/3 c. diced onions


• 9 cloves of roasted garlic, mashed with a fork


• 1 t. italian seasonings


• 1 T. vegan Shiraz


• 1 T. balsamic vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Heat up 1 T. of olive oil in a saucepan until hot. Add your onions on medium-high heat and cook until brown and caramelized (directions on caramelizing HERE). Once thorougly cooked, add your crushed tomatoes, italian seasonings, garlic, shiraz, and vinegar. Cook on low for about 20 minutes.

Serve over pasta noodles of your choice. I also recommend serving some sauteed mushrooms on top as well--take a small container of whole mushrooms and slice them up thickly, heat 1 T. of olive oil in a pan and then add the mushrooms and just a little bit of season salt (don't add any sweet/garlicky seasonings since you'll have plenty already in your sauce--you'll want to keep the flavor simple since the flavor of the sauce is very full), fry until tender but not mushy (adding a fistful of water if they start to stick).

(I actually think this would taste better using a can of whole tomatoes and crushing them with a fork--the waterier and chunkier, the better. So if you happen to toy with it, let me know.)