Cheat Meals and I are friends. Really close friends. If a Cheat Meal were a person, we would hang out at the pool and drink wine all the time-which would be a lot, since Cheat Meals are big on keeping you out of the kitchen. No, this type of “Cheat Meal” is not the bad dining choice you made on your dieting day off. This is a throw together in 15 minutes, forget about it for a few hours, and come home to absolute dining perfection-which will taste like you worked for hours. See. You want to hang out and have wine with Cheat Meals too.
Like me, you probably already have most of these ingredients in your fridge/freezer/pantry, and it’s more than forgiving to substitutions, so break out the eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and spinach, if you have them. You can do this.
Why do I call it magic? Because it’s healthy and served over pasta, so my kids eat it. Plus, you can purée it, leaving the little dinner monsters clueless to the level of health they’ve achieved. So, here goes: your blind date with Cheat Meals. You can thank me later.
enjoy!
xx
turnips + tantrums team
Magic Sauce with Gremolata
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 lb. beef stew meat cubed, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 medium carrots chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 28 oz crushed San Marzano tomatoes if they’re whole, pop the immersion blender in the can
- 14 oz water half the tomato can
- 1 tbsp. fresh thyme chopped or 1 tsp. dried
- 3 fresh basil leaves chopped
- 1 c. red wine
- 1 tsp. salt plus more to taste
- 1 tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. red pepper flake if you like a little kick
- 1 bag Tinkyada gluten free pasta spirals
- Gremolata
- Handful of parsley chopped
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 clove of garlic shredded or minced
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°
- Heat olive oil in stock pot or Dutch Oven. Once smoking, yes, smoking, add the meat and brown.
- Meanwhile, chop up onions, carrots, celery and garlic.
- Remove the meat and set aside.
- Toss veggies into remaining oil and cook until onions are translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add thyme and basil, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add wine. Cook until reduced, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, water, meat, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Cover (either with lid or foil) and place in oven. Cook for 3 hours.
- 20 minutes before you’re ready to serve, cook your pasta.
- For Gremolata, add ingredients to a separate bowl, stir, set in fridge.
- Serve over gluten free noodles, regular noodles, mashed potatoes, or polenta-the possibilities are endless. Garnish with Gremolata.
Nutrition
Recipe source: turnips + tantrums original.