spaghetti sauce recipe

Any of you fantastic cooks out there have an awesome spaghetti sauce recipe?
I'm cooking for the new BF and want to impress

i'm making a baked spaghetti, but i don't want to use a jar sauce........

beth

I dont have an awesome one, just the one we make. Kids would never eat one from a jar.
We use Passata as a base and chuck in whatever we are in the mood for.
Oregano
Garlic
Onion.
Brown sugar (Italians use brown sugar iin their red sauce)

Just keep adding whatever takes your fancy, and let it simmer a while.
It can take from 10 minutes to however long you want to nurture it, and you have no additives...

Probably not awesome, but it works for us.

This is my world famous pasta sauce. I've been making this since I was a kid. It takes several housrs to cook so you have to start early enough to let it simmer for 3 hours.

1 Large onion - chopped
1 1/2 lbs italian sausage- mild or hot
1 lb of mushrooms - sliced
2 15 oz (?) cans of tomato sauce
2 sm cans or 1 large can tomato paste
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cup of red wine
2 cups water
garlic 3-4 cloves -chopped fine or crushed
oregano 1 tsp or more
basil 1 tsp or more
thyme 1/2 tsp
salt and pepper
1/2 c parmesan cheese

Brown the sausage. When almost all browned add the onion and garlic, cook til soft. Add the tomato sauce, paste, and chopped tomatoes, wine and water. Add mushrooms, oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 -3 hours stirring occasionally. Add water as needed and adjust seasonings as needed. It should cook down to a fairly thick sauce but not too thick. In the last 20 minutes of cooking, add the parmesan cheese. Stir occasionally.

Add to pasta and enjoy!

This freezes beautifully so I always make a big pot so I can freeze some for quick dinners.
Alli

Hey Alli it's just like mine with wine and sausage.....LOL.

Just kidding. Sounds yummy

Don't laugh. If you are making it for a man: Take about 2-3 oz of left-over cooked steak and chop it super fine or put it a or 'slap chop' (is what I use). Carrot, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic and food process that until you can't recognize it. Put that all into your favorite spaghetti sauce and voilla, he will think you've reinvented spaghetti sauce.

I use white sugar rather than brown in my sauce. The logic is that the sugar cuts the tartness of the tomatoes, that's why its used. Not alot, I never use more than "a pinch" (i.e, a tablespoon or so, depending on how big a pot I'm making). I also use cinnamon, again, about a pinch. I don't measure, unfortunately, but I use less cinnamon than sugar. It's kind of a "to taste" thing.
I also use red chili flakes, but that's because I like my sauce spicy. Otherwise, a whole chopped onion, then oregano, parsley, pepper, salt, LOTS of garlic, basil, etc. All to taste. And all stewed together with the tomatoes for about 2 hours. You can use fresh but to save time, I use a can of crushed and a can of chopped stewed; that way you get the liquid the tomatoes are in without having to add water. And I use the biggest cans I can buy in the supermarket.

Oh, I meant to add, that's the recipe for the base - its basic marinara. After you stew it for a couple of hours, you can use it to build on. I also freeze it and pull it out when I want to use it later to make spaghetti and I've also added it to soup stock. But you can brown some sausage (I brown mine in olive oil and garlic, then add white wine and let the sausage absorb the wine as it reduces) and veggies (mushrooms, green peppers, etc. are nice) and then throw it in the sauce and you have nice spaghetti.
Good luck!

Bubbs,

Havent tried cinnamon....will do next time.
I dont know why the Italians use brown sugar.
We only use a teaspoon or so. Will ask why.

Also dont always use passata, depending on what we have, we should use chopped tomatoes really.
And add in some tomato puree.
(Got it from my daughters fiancé, and also next door neighbour.)



P

Maybe Ivy will tell us her recipe!

I was thinking just that Leslie.
She will probalby tell me that the brown sugar is a regional thing too.
Nothing like regional differences in Italy...

what is passata?

Ah, do we only have it in Europe....sorry.
Passata is a thick pulp of stewed tomato. Not bits of tomato.
Usually comes in a tetra brick.

http://www.ochef.com/603.htm

pen, we could have it here, but i wouldnt know it... i'm not exactly a gourmet. i'm a great country cook, but beyond that i need practice!!!

beth

You probably do. Maybe it is called something different.
We dont have tomato paste...what is that?

We all learn as we go along.....

This is my mom's amazing recipe. It's delicious and fairly easy to make. It just takes time to let it all simmer.

1 C. chopped onion 3 cans (6 oz) tomato paste
1 clove garlic-minced 2 C. water
3 tbsp. oil 2 ½ tsp. salt
½ lb. ground beef ½ tsp. pepper
½ lb. ground pork 1 tsp. oregano
1 can (28 oz) Italian tomatoes, chopped mushrooms & olives-optional
drained

Add onion & garlic to hot oil in a large deep skillet & cook until onion is soft. Add ground meats, separate it into small pieces and cook until lightly browned. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, & mixture of salt, pepper, & oregano. Add water. Add mushrooms & olives. Cook uncovered over low heat about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (I cook it for several hours.)

Pen, I don't remember where I got the idea for the cinnamon from, but I've been doing it for years. I've met a few people who do it, not all were Italian - one was a Jewish man who was a really good cook. I'm part Italian, but no one in my family claims the heritage except my mom, and even she acknowledges that its pretty far back in our ancestry. I must be a throw back though, I look Italian and I cook like one

I think the differences in sugar - brown or white - don't really matter, they still serve the same purpose, whether one uses white or brown, and that's to cut the sourness/tartness of the tomatoes. That's a pretty well-known Italian cook's trick. The cinnamon, IMO, just adds depth to the sweetness when one adds sugar. And then when one adds chili, as I do, the cinnamon adds depth to that as well.

I love to make my own marinara. It takes time, but most of that is simmer time. Prep time is pretty minimal.

Here I am!
Spaghetti can be dressed at least in a 1,000 different ways.
Do you prefer a tomato sauce, fish dressing, meat sauce...?

The typical, simple, most Italian way to dress spaghetti is with the tomato sauce. The receipt that Pen gave you is great. Yes, Pen, sugar (brown is probably more regional, by I agree on sugar) in the passata is perfect. It helps to reduce the tomato sourness. But it takes only 1/4 of tea spoon, don't overuse it otherwise the sauce will taste too sweet. You can also use bicarbonate for the same purpose. Again, only a very small quantity!

Another way to dress Spaghetti is PESTO.
Pesto is a dressing made of: garlic, basil, pine kernels (or chopped walnuts if you prefer), parmesan cheese, olive oil.
Basil and garlic should be reduced to a pulp by using a manual pestel, but you can obtain the pulp also through a normal shaker (the difference is that the basil tends to become darker if you use an electrical shaker). You then add the parmesan, the extra virgin olive oil, salt and kernels (or walnuts).
Pesto does not need to be cooked, just add it to the boiled spaghetti.
The doses are:

BASIL: 50 grams
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 1/2 glass (or more if you like)
Garlic: 2 cloves
Parmesan: 6 spoons
Pine Kernels/Walnuts: 1 spoon

If you like fish, you can dress spaghetti with zucchini and shrimps. It's very easy to prepare them.
In a pan, pour some olive oil and add sliced zucchini , 1 garlic clove and salt. Let them cook for a couple of minutes and then add a little bit of white wine, let it evapore and reduce the fire to the min in order to stew the zucchini (they must not fry). After 10 minutes, add the shrimps and let cook for other 5 minutes. The all must not be watery but not fried either.
In the meanwhile, cook spaghetti and when they're ready pour them in the pan. Mix it all and serve with minced parsley on top.

Last one: my favourite spaghetti receip.
Spaghetti with clams.
In a large pan, put olive oil, minced garlic and the clams (wash them well!). When the temperature is high enough, pour half glass of white wine. Let the clams cook till the shells open (it takes only a few minutes). Pour cooked spaghetti on the clams, mix quickly and serve with minced parsley on top!

Let us know how the dinner went, no matter what you'll decide to serve

Thanks Ivy....phew, got it right...well just about. So he may have dumped my daughter , but he knew his red sauce....

Oh and i LOVE pesto forgot about that.
Oh and Zucchini. They insist on calling them courgettes here.
I will NOT...i dont do French....

ciao.
Pen

Pen - I wonder if Passata is our tomato paste--a thick glob of tomato in a paste consistency?

Not sure Linda. Passata is a thick liquid. Comes in a tetra brick usually and it you gut it open it will plop out into the pan.
It is not thick like puree. Somewhere between puree and chopped tomatoes, but it is smooth, no bits.
You can use it as is for a sauce by itself. Kind of like thick custard consistency.

Maybe Ivy can explain it better.

Maybe I didn't describe it good enough. You described it. I think it is the same. Ours comes in a can but it is thick like custard. Could be used by itself but it usually deluted for things like sloppy joes and used in addition to other tomato products.

Sounds very similar. Maybe it is the same. Either way sounds as if it does the same job.
How about a can of Campbell's soup....that kind of thing....

This is a funny discussion.

Yep, except tomato paste is thicker. And you are right Pen, a weird discussion.

Ok, now I'm hungry for spaghetti. My sauce is never exactly the same twice. I don't follow a recipe for it. Just kind of toss in whatever I feel like at the time. The other difference is if DH is eating it or not. He's kind of a picky and doesn't like "chunks" in his sauce (except meat.)

Hey Brenda, I do that too. No recipe, just the passata is the common ingredient. After that its taste it as I go along....I cant ever recall what I did last time...

If chunks are not appreciated, go for Passata....not a chunk in sight.

PASSATA litteraly means MASHED.
So, imagine to mash fresh tomatoes. What you'll get is PASSATA