I have been a jarhead for all of my life. When it comes to spaghetti, the sauce always came from a jar. Sure we might add some ground meat and additional spices, but the main saucey component was straight out of a jar. This week I changed all of that. We were helping put on a Italian dinner tonight and I thought it was a perfect time to make a homemade sauce. If you read my post on roasted pepper soup, you know that the broiler can do wonders to vegetables, especially in the winter time when you do not have as easy access to a grill.
Here is how this sauce all came together. The first thing that I did was took about 12 roma tomatoes and seeded them. The seeding is process is quick and easy. Slice your red plump buddies in half and then either squeeze them or give them a quick slice down the centers of each tomato. This will save you from having an overly seedy sauce later.
These tomatoes were placed in a large bowl with one chopped white onion and 6 crushed garlic cloves. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and toss to coat. I then added about 2 tsp of sea salt and 1 tsp of black pepper. All of this was placed in a large baking dish and broiled for about 45-55 minutes. Once removed from the oven I allowed it all to cool before tossing it in my blender.
While the tomatoes, onions, and garlic broiled I browned up 16 oz of Italian sausage. I have used ground beef and ground turkey, but this recipe was going to be special, insert sausage here!! The Italian sausage brings such great flavor and texture to the party that you may have a hard time going back to your typical ground meat. I think a great compromise is to use a 50/50 blend of sausage and turkey.
Now, in a large stock pot I cooked up two strips of bacon that was cut into small chunks. Once the bacon was removed I added 3 diced cloves of garlic and 1/4 of a diced oninon to the bacon drippings and cooked them until they were nice and golden. To this I added one can of diced tomatoes and green peppers along with a large drained can of whole peeled tomatoes. I cooked this for about five minutes stirring occassionaly while I placed the roasted veggies in a blender. Once the roasted veggies were taken for a spin on "liquify" I removed them to make room for the veggies that were cooking on the stove. The whole and diced tomatoes, along with the onion and garlic were pureed in my blender and then added back to the pan with the other pureed veggies and sausage. I brought the sauce up to a boil while adding 2 tsp of dried oregano, 2 tsp of dried basil, and 6 bay leaves. Once the sauce reached a boil I turned the burner down to simmer and allowed the sauce to simmer for 4-6 hours stirring occasionally. You certainly would not have to simmer it for this long, but if you have the time you might as well. I did not add any additional salt and pepper because I felt that it was right on with the saltiness of the bacon and the sausage.
Most believe that making tomato sauce should be left to those living in the boot across the pond while the rest believe that "making spagehtti sauce" is opening the jar and adding some meat. You do not have to live the rest of your life thinking that homemade sauce is like homemade cakes, they come mostly made in a package at the store. Step out on a limb and you can change the way you and your family eat pasta. Summer is just around the corner and what better way to use those tomatos than in a hearty sauce that you can can or freeze. As always, happy cooking!!
