Pasta Sauce By Jeanne Winnick Brennan
Photography by Dave Brooks

Ann Bailey and Boren Chertkov work from early spring through late summer in their backyard vegetable garden in midtown Sacramento so that in the dead of winter they can open a container of their frozen homemade pasta sauce and enjoy summer all over again.

“In 1980, when we first bought our house, we put in the garden,” says Bailey. “After that first season, when we put our produce on the kitchen drainboard, we realized we needed a recipe to go with all of it and found this one.”

Natives of Texas, Bailey and Chertkov both had gardens as children, and today they share a passion for vegetable gardening, growing herbs, cucumbers, several kinds of beans, tomatoes, squash, okra and black-eyed peas. As busy professionals—Bailey is an attorney for the California Senate, Chertkov an arbitrator—they find gardening a relaxing and satisfying experience.

“We’ve been known to take produce to our offices by the bushels," says Chertkov. “We also enjoy educating our friends about our Southern custom of eating black-eyed peas for good luck as we start the new year.”

Best of the Garden Pasta Sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic to the oil and heat it gently. Add eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, olives and capers to the oil and stir well, coating the vegetables with the oil. Add the remaining ingredients, stir again and cover the skillet. Simmer the sauce over low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally to keep from scorching, and add water or more wine if the sauce gets too thick. Freeze in airtight containers and use within six months. Yield: 2 quarts

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium eggplant, unpeeled and chopped
2 green bell peppers, diced
3 cups peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes (plum or Roma are best)
1/2 cup pitted and halved kalamata olives

3 tablespoons capers
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 12-ounce can tomato paste
2 cups dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste