Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for about 1 minute. Transfer to ice-water bath and let cool down for few minutes. Peel the skin off and core each tomato.
Cut celery root in slices and then each slice in strips.
Slice onion in strips, coarsely cut the garlic cloves.
Cut off stem from red chili pepper, cut chili in rough pieces.
Cut red bell pepper in rough strips; roughly chop Italian flat leaf parsley.
Transfer celery root, onions, garlic, chili pepper, bell pepper and parsley to a food processor. Using food processor cut the mixture to small pieces but do not go too far and puree it!
Quarter tomatoes and cover the bottom of braising dish (please see recipe notes).
Distribute cut vegetables on top of the tomatoes forming an even leveled bed, Do not Stir!
Sprinkle the salt on top of the bed and drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
Put the lid on and braise in the prewarmed oven changing the temperature as per following schedule:
– 1.5 hours @ 130 ºC (265 ºF)
– 1.5 hours @ 180 ºC (350 ºF)
– 45 minutes @ 200 ºC (400 ºF)
Take braising dish out of oven and let cool down.
Tomato Sauce Reduction
Over medium heat (5 out of 10) warm up a medium size pan. When hot add enough olive oil to coat the bottom.
Add about 1/4 of tomato sauce volume, pouring slowly to cover the pan bottom. Do not Stir! Sprinkle on salt and sugar, and without stirring cook for about 3 minutes.
Slowly add in the rest of the tomato sauce, pouring it in a circular motion and trying to coat the pan bottom. Do not Stir! Cook for another 2 minutes and then stir the sauce scraping the fond that may have formed on the bottom. Keep cooking and stirring for few more minutes until sauce gets thicker.
Stir in paprika and then add to the pan all the braised vegetables. Mix it all together and cook for 2-3 minutes. Take off heat and let cool off for a few minutes.
Moldavian Braised Vegetable Sauce Assembly
Transfer everything to a blender adding to it fresh basil and red wine. Run blender for a few minutes until pureed.
Transfer pureed sauce back to a medium size pot, cover and over medium low heat (3 out of 10) simmer for about 30 minutes.
Uncover the pan, reduce heat to low (2 out of 10), stir in the cognac and cook for another 15 minutes uncovered.
Cool the sauce in an ice bath. Store in a sealed container, refrigerated.
Recipe Notes
braising dish has to be made out of: glass, ceramic or non reactive metal.
braising dish has to be proper size and have a lid that seals well. When filled with all the ingredients it has to be at least half full.