Provençal sauce with sweet mini peppers and mushrooms

2016-03-14

Provencal sauce is a vegetable stew that is served as a sauce. It is easy enough to make (chop & stew) but it does take a few hours to simmer down properly. Add the Provençal spices late, or they’ll lose too much of the flavor.

I usually make Provençal sauce with the largest bell peppers I can find.
I used sweet mini peppers for these recipes, which changes the texture more than the flavor. It's the mostly same sauce, but the mini peppers are slightly chewier and do taste slightly different.

I often add mushrooms to Provençal sauce, but it is not a requirement.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 4-6 servings:

  • 1 lb. sweet mini peppers
  • 2 lbs. plum tomatoes
  • 2-3 medium yellow onions
  • up to 1 lb. white button mushrooms
  • olive oil
  • S&P, Provençal spices

optional:

  • up to 1 quart stock (beef, chicken, vegetable)
Pic1: Provençal sauce with sweet mini peppers,
         served with chicken breast

Directions

2020-02-19

Pic2: ingredients
Pic3: stir-fry mini peppers + mushrooms
Pic4: add liquid to make it a stew
  • Peel the onions. Chop 1 onion coarsely. Leave the rest whole.
  • Wash, destem and deseed the mini peppers. Slice or chop coarsely.
  • Clean and slice the mushrooms.
  • Brown the onions in 2 tbsp. olive oil.
  • Add 1/3 of the mini-peppers and the mushrooms.
  • Stir-fry until the mushrooms turn dark brown.
  • Add 2 cups water or stock to make it a stew. \
  • Bring to a boil.

 

Pic5: add more mini peppers
Pic6: add tomato sauce, stew
Pic7: add coarsely-cut boiled onion
  • Add the remainder of the mini peppers. (Pic5)
  • Add quartered tomatoes or tomato sauce. (Pic6)
  • Bring to a boil again. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, boil the remaining onions whole—preferably in a delicious soup—to make them transparent and sweet.
  • Chop coarsely and add to the stew. Simmer 30-90 minutes to thicken the tomato sauce.

 

Pic8: add Provençal spices
Pic9: stir and simmer
Pic10: serve and enjoy
  • When the sauce has thickened enough to your liking, add up to 1 tsp. Provençal spices.
    Be careful, because these can be overpowering.
  • Simmer 5 more minutes. (Pic9)
  • Serve and enjoy. (Pic1, Pic10)

Serving suggestion:

  • I served this with a roasted chicken breast, but this is a good match for beef, pork, birds, seafood and eggs as well.
  • I froze leftovers in small portions for later use.