While watching an episode of Salt, fat, acid, heat, I learned that miso can be used as a base for tomato sauce.
Since then, I’ve been using miso paste in every tomato sauce I make, along with a couple of dried shiitake mushrooms. The combination of these ingredients makes the sauce much richer.
Briefly: I first cook some onions, garlic, and a couple dried mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat. Once the onions are browned, I add miso paste, then diced tomatoes. After the tomatoes stew for a while, I blend it all together and serve it atop some pasta. Sometimes I add some basil (see below), parsley, and/or Parmesan cheese (see below).
