Thursday, August 20, 2009

cheating with tomato sauce

I spent three days on vacation over the weekend, and somehow I'm more tired than usual this week. This unfortunate circumstance led to what is arguably a semi-homemade dinner last night.

I didn't make my own pierogies - I think Mrs. T's are quite acceptable. Although, considering I've never bothered to make my own, I wonder how much better they could be. Anyway, this dish ended up being pierogies cooked in just a (very) basic tomato sauce.

Ingredients

Pierogies (as many as you want to eat and can fit in the pan)
26 oz. can of whole tomatoes
2 cups of spinach
5 garlic cloves, sliced
parmesan cheese
2 tsp olive oil
salt
pepperoncini (crushed red pepper)

Over medium heat, gently saute the garlic and pepperoncini in the olive oil. Add a little salt to help the process along. This sauce is garlic-heavy, partly because there are so few ingredients in it.

When the garlic starts to brown slightly around the edges, add the whole can of tomatoes. Mash them with a potato masher. Bring to a boil.

Place the frozen pieroges in the tomato sauce. In the picture, I've just placed them in there, but you'll want to cover them with the sauce. Allow to cook for 5-6 minutes (you may need more or less time if you made your own pierogies).

Add the spinach, gently stirring it into the sauce. Allow to cook for another minute more, or until the spinach wilts. Sprinkle the whole thing with cheese to taste.

Serve alone or with your protein of choice (chicken breast, pork chop, whatever).

This recipe is also delicious substituting 1 cup basil for the spinach.

Sorry about that completely blurry picture over there; I couldn't get my hand steady over the pan for some reason.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm impressed! When I want pierogies and tomato sauce, I just cook the pierogies in the toaster oven like normal and heat up a bit of marinara sauce from a jar. ;)