A few nights ago, I decided to make a spaghetti sauce. The way my husband, Clif, and I like spaghetti sauce best is with bits of sausage, cooked in little balls, thrown into the sauce to simmer right along with it. However, as I have indicated in previous posts, for environmental reasons, we have decided to eat “mostly vegetarian,” and what this pretty much means is that we are meatless during the week, saving special meat treats for the weekend (e.g., Pete’s Roast Beef sandwiches).

So for our midweek meal of sauce and pasta, we wondered if we could substitute TVP (textured vegetable protein) for the sausage and get a pleasing albeit different result. Would TVP give the sauce that extra little kick that sausage gives it? After all, although the name sounds a little sterile and scientific, TVP is really just defatted soy flour. Nothing objectionable there, and both Clif and I tend to like all things soy, even tofu, if it’s prepared the right way.

Unfortunately, the TVP did not deliver. We used the chunks, letting them simmer with the sauce, and although it would be unfair to say that the TVP ruined the sauce, it certainly didn’t add anything, either. The texture—a bit on the squishy side—was acceptable, but the taste was, well, blah. The TVP picked up some of the sauce taste, but not enough to make it delectable. And, readers, I’m afraid it did look as though I had thrown a couple of handfuls of dog kibbles into the sauce.

With the taste of TVP being blah and the looks being like dog food, my vote would be to go with just a plain tomato sauce and say to heck with the TVP. Clif, I think, liked it better than I did; he enjoyed the added texture. However, he is fine with a plain tomato sauce, and that is what I will be making during the week.

For weekends or for company, I would get the above-mentioned sausage. If I wanted a bang-up sauce, I might even add some shrimp as well, at the very last minute, of course, so that it wouldn’t overcook.

I am happy to report that despite the dog-food appearance of the TVP, the sauce itself was so good and so simple that it’s worth sharing.

Simple Spaghetti Sauce

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes with basil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine
2 pinches of crushed red pepper, or to taste

In a large frying pan, sauté the red peppers a few minutes until they are slightly soft. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute. Don’t let the garlic burn! Immediately add the crushed tomatoes, the red wine, and the crushed red pepper. (It was at this point that I added a couple of handfuls of TVP.) Let the sauce simmer for at least 45 minutes so that all the flavors mingle.

For a very special sauce, add cooked sausage (I like mine rolled in little balls) to the sauce before letting it simmer. For an extra-special sauce, also throw in some shrimp at the very last minute, and let the mixture simmer only long enough for the shrimp to be warmed through. You might have to test a shrimp or two, just to be sure. (One of the perks of being the cook.)

Note about the wine: Use the best quality you can afford. A poor-quality wine will make an inferior-tasting sauce.