spaghetti sauce

[Kendra Anne]

Does anyone have just a simple recipe for spaghetti sauce? I want to make my own sauce instead of buying the jar brands. Any ideas??? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Ohioan]

The simplest sauce is just to start with canned tomatoes (crushed, chopped, diced, or even whole, broken up and mashed or processed to your desired consistency). Dump 'em in a pot and add the following to taste: salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, minced garlic, a small peeled onion (whole), basil, oregano, and a bay leaf. Then simmer for a few hours, stirring every half-hour or so and adding water if necessary, and fishing out the onion after the first hour. Long on time, but short on effort.

The next easiest is to begin by sauteeing the garlic and onion in a bit of olive oil before adding the tomatoes and all the other ingredients. In this case, you can use either the whole onion (which you'll fish out later) or chopped onion, depending on whether you like bits of onion in your sauce. I don't.

And the next easiest is to add meat to the sauteeing step. In this case, you may be able to leave out the olive oil and saute everything in the meat's own fat, depending on what kind of meat you use. You may even have to drain some fat off if you're using ground beef or sausage. Anyway, brown the meat before adding the tomatoes.

A really super-saver of effort, and a way to simulate the taste of sausage if you don't eat meat or don't like the added fat, is to use one of the meatless methods and add fennel seeds along with the other seasonings.

I sometimes just put up a pot of sauce after lunch on Saturday or Sunday and then go about my other business, occasionally checking in to stir, adjust seasonings, and add a little water, until dinnertime. The longer the sauce cooks, the deeper the flavors get.

Cheers, Phoebe

[MrsReber]

Kendra, my mom taught me how to make sauce. It's so very simple and versatile. I'm sure that there's plenty of recipes out there, but I don't have a recipe at all. I simply saute some onion (about 1 medium onion) and some garlic (depending on how much you like) in about two tablespoons of olive oil. I do the onions first and wait until they soften,then add the garlic. I use the canned whole plum tomatoes with basil and puree them or you can leave them chunky if you like- or use cru I just add one or two of the big Tuttorosa cans (28 oz, I think) and then some seasoning. It really all depends on your taste. The basics are basil, parsely and oregano, but I have also added about 1/4 cup wine and some locatelli cheese. Also, you may want to add about 1 Tblspoon of sugar if the tomatoes seem bitter at all. I like to be creative with sauce rather than stick to a recipe. For a meat sauce, I'll just brown 1 lb of chopmeat in with the onions and garlic and use the fat from the sausage to saute rather than add olive oil. This also adds alot of flavor.

I also like to make meatballs and sausage in my sauce. I will brown the meatballs and/or sausage in a large pot and add the sauce over the meat. The meatballs take on the flavor of the sauce then.

Also, for some reason, the sauce is always better the next day. My problem is that I have to eat it the day I cook it. It smells too good! I just made a huge pot of meatballs sauce on Sunday and froze about half of it in smaller containers. Then I just take out a container before I leave for work in the morning and it'll be defrosted when I get home.

[sneezles]

Kendra
Here are the two basic suaces I have used for the past twenty odd years:
Basic Tomato Sauce
3 lbs ripe plum tomatoes or
2 2-pound, 3ounce cans (which I use when the
plum or romas aren't too ripe)
1 garlic clove
2 tbs good olive oil
1 tsp salt (usually only necessary with fresh)
A liberal amount of milled black pepper
1 tbs dried basil

Tomatoes should be chopped and put through food mill or sieve.
Peel garlic, cut into 3 pieces, and put in deep frypan with olive oil. Simmer over low flame until the garlic is brown, don't burn. Press the pieces flat in the pan and swish them around in the oil; then remove and discard them.
Pour in the tomatoes, add the salt, pepper and dried basil. Keeping your flame low, stir the sauce frequently until blended and bubbling. Continue cooking so that the sauce bubbles but does not throw tomato all over the stove. Continue cooking until the water has evaporated. Usually about 30 minutes. Makes 7 cups of sauce; 2 cups usually serves 6 and the rest can be frozen in two cup containers.

Marinara Sauce

2 tbs olive oil
2 small white onions, chopped
2 small carrots, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Liberal amount of black pepper
18 medium-sized very ripe plum tomatoes or
2 2-pound, 3-ounce cans (dice the tomatoes)
1 tsp salt
3 tbs butter (melted)
1/4 tsp dried hot red pepper

Saute in the oil the onios, carrots and garlic until onions are soft. Mill in black pepper, and add the tomatoes. Stir the sauce well, add the salt, and cook uncovered, for 20 minutes. Push the sauce through a food mill (these days I use my stick blender, a lot less mess). Add the butter and red pepper, cook for 15 min,stirring often. I use a diffuser under my sauce pans to help reduce the burning cause by ling cooking times.

Both of these recipes are from The Complete Book of Pasta, c1968.


[This message has been edited by sneezles (edited 10-04-2000).]

[lindrusso]

Kendra,

I threw out some recipes to Lori (who probably wasn't even looking for any http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif ) on the "sequel" thread, just in case you're interested. I usually like to look at several different recipes and glean a little from all of them!

[This message has been edited by lindrusso (edited 10-04-2000).]

[This message has been edited by lindrusso (edited 10-04-2000).]

[Beth Y]

Our standby is CL's Quick and Easy Pasta Sauce which is in the recipe finder, as well as the add ons to this basic sauce, Puttanesca (our favorite), Arrabiata, Vodka, etc.

[buddie]

i got this SIMPLE recipe from a cooking class... very good!

Spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 28oz can peeled tomato (crush them like in a blender)
3 large cloves of garlic crushed (as much as you like)
1.2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt to taste
basil if you like or use anything else

heat oil over medium high heat in a medium saucepand, add garlic and red crushed pepper. do not let burn. add crushed tomatoes and salt bring to a boil. lower heat to medium low, uncover for about 30 minutes stir occasionally
add basil or whatever remove from heat

[Kendra Anne]

WOW!! Thanks for all the great recipes... I think I will try every one of them. They are so simple too that I can shop for the ingredients in town here in Germany! Thanks a bunch!!

[Little Bit]

Just thought I'd share my favorite recipe.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 1/2 pounds ground round, brown in skillet
4 cups chopped onion
28 oz tomatoes, diced
3 Tablespoons Parsley
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1/2 Cup Green Olives with Pimientos
8 oz fresh Mushrooms
1 Tablespoon chopped Garlic
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 small (8 oz) can Tomato sauce
1 small can Tomato Paste


Brown the meat in a skillet. Remove and drain fat away. Saute/sweat the onions in the skillet, but don't brown them.

Put the meat and onions in a big pot and add all the other ingredients, plus PLENTY of water. Simmer slowly several hours, stirring once in a while to keep things from sticking.

[Luckyfeather]

Just bumping this up because I'm so proud of myself, and thankful to Lindrusso for sharing a great recipe!

We had so many roma tomatoes this year, and after getting tired of canning salsa, tomato juice cocktail, and plain tomatoes, I wanted to do something different. I decided upon spagetti sauce. I searched the threads and found an easy recipe on the "sequal" thread. This summer I made two batches of the sauce, divided each batch into two, and froze 4 squares of it, hoping it would be good. Last night we tried the homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time, and it was a winner! We both loved it, and it's so nice to know the sauce is homemade and comes from the freshest ingredients. Last night all I added was fresh mushrooms and some hot sauce, plus about 1/4 lb. of Italian sausage. I may try something different with the next batch.

This bulletin board and its' members came through for me again. I just love this place!

Thanks again, Lindrusso!