sideber

Tomato Sauce

This is an Italian tomato sauce as I've been making it for 30 years. It evolved from my mother's sauce: I still go to her constantly for recipes and cooking advice.

This long-cooked sauce (some might call it a ragu), of course, is for pasta. You can make a much simpler sauce for pizza, and this sauce works for pasta as well.

I'm often asked if this sauce can be made with turkey sausage. Of course not.

You need a very large sauce pot (I use a 16-quart with a thick bottom)for this recipe. It makes enough for at least 4 pounds of pasta. It's enough for at least three meals for seven people, with meatballs and sausages left over for sandwiches. I freeze sauce and meat in 1-gallon freezer bags.

  1. Heat the sauce pot, and add enough olive oil to about 1/8".
  2. Add the onions, and immediately add salt. You want to soften the onions, not color them, and salt will draw out water. Stir occasionally.
  3. Add the garlic. Stir.
  4. Remove the casings from four or five Italian sausages, and add the meat to the pot. Break up the sausage with a wooden spoon, and brown.
  5. Add the oregano, basil, and bay leaves. Stir.
  6. Add the red wine, and simmer for five minutes.
  7. Add the San Marsano tomatoes. This will cool the pot enough for you to crush the tomatoes with your hands. Work quickly, or take the pot off the heat.
  8. Brown the remaining sausages in olive oil and set aside.
  9. I generally cook this sauce (covered) for six hours (at least four), adding the browned sausages and meatballs an hour before serving. Use the lowest heat possible, and stir frequently. Add water when the sauce gets too thick.

Serve the sauce over pasta; spaghetti, ziti, riggatoni, and most dried pastas work well. Serve with Parmigianno Reggiano and crushed red pepper to taste. Use left-over meatballs and sausages for sandwiches.