Red Sauce for everything

Pasta is a family favorite at my house.  I always make homemade sauce, and use my own fresh Italian Basil grown in my garden.  During the summer growing season when I have more basil than I know what to do with, I use a food processor to grind fresh basil, garlic and olive oil, into a paste.  I freeze this and enjoy the flavor of fresh basil in my cooking all winter long.

Using dried basil is just fine if you can’t get your hands on fresh stuff, but my preference will always be FRESH!

Canned tomatoes, sauces and pastes are combined to give a thick, rich sauce.  I just love the Contadina brand that has roasted garlic or herbs.  It gives my sauce another dimension of flavor.

Red wine is a must!  This doesn’t have to be expensive stuff, but I recommend the deepest red you can find, like burgundy.

This basic red marinara, or spaghetti sauce can be used for any type of pasta or pizza.

2 tablespoons extra virgin oil

½ large or 1 small onion

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon dried basil

  Or ½ cup fresh chopped basil

1-29oz. can tomato sauce

1-29oz. can crushed tomatoes

1-6oz. can tomato paste

1 cup red wine

Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop onions and chop or mince garlic

Heat a large 6 quart pot, with a heavy bottom, over medium heat. 

When hot, add oil, swirling to cover bottom of pan.

Add onions, stirring for a minute, then garlic and basil.

    DO NOT SCORCH-remove from heat if necessary

Saute for a few minutes, till onions are clear (and your house smells like heaven!)

Add sauce and crushed tomatoes and stir

    Fill 1 empty can ½ full with water, pour back and forth between cans to rinse out, then pour into sauce pot. (waste not, want not)

Measure the red wine in a 2-cup measuring cup or pour into 2 cup bowl.

Tip: Open paste can at both ends, remove 1 lid and use other lid to push paste out of can.

Add paste and combine thoroughly, then pour into pot

Add water to measuring cup or bowl, then add to pot (this way, no paste gets wasted!)

Combine thoroughly, add more water till pot is over half-full, turn heat to lowest possible setting, place a lid on the pot, slightly askew and simmer all day.  (3-5 hours)

Make sure it doesn’t scorch, check and stir occasionally, adding water if necessary.

After about 2 hours, taste sauce.  Add salt and/or pepper to taste.

Tip: about halfway through cooking, use a hand blender, to puree your sauce to an even smoother finish.  This is especially nice if you have kids or grownups who don’t like to see onion pieces in their food.

Double or triple the recipe, cook in a large stock pot and freeze for later use.

Brown and drain any type of ground meat, ground beef or veal or sausage and add about an hour before serving.

The world's best meatballs

I said before that I'm lucky to have an entire family who cooks. Friday's dinner was meatball sandwiches.

My 13 year old attends Charter School, which means he has Homestudy on Mondays and Fridays, so I asked him if he'd like to make meatballs for dinner.

1. I said 'meat', so he's all over that. (We've been sneaking in alot more meatless meals lately)
2. He gets a break from study.....uh, yeah, something like that.

Mostly, he loves to show off his mad cooking skills.

I called him from work about noon, so that he could make sure we have all the necessary ingredients: Ground beef, ground pork or sausage, eggs, onion, garlic and bread crumbs.



Seriously. That's it. So, what you see in the picture is a pound each of ground beef and sausage, so you'd chop half an onion, one or two cloves of garlic and 2 eggs. If you are using the seasoned bread crumbs shown in the picture, 1 cup is perfect and no other seasoning is necessary.

Mix with your hands (thoroughly washing them first, of course).
Its the only way. It's cold and icky-feeling, but it really is the only way.

Some people form their meatballs and drop them, raw, into sauce to cook. This works, but I don't care for the mushiness. I make golf ball-sized meatballs, place them in a pan, and when the pan gets hot, pour 1/4 cup of water and slam a lid onto it. In about 2 minutes,lift the lid and continue to brown the meatballs, turning occasionally for about 10 minutes.

You can also arrange them on a cookie sheet, spaced apart and bake for about 20 min in a 300 degree oven, turning occasionally.

Throw cooked meatballs into any marinara sauce, home made or canned, and then pour over cooked spaghetti or shove into a roll for a meatball sandwich. Freeze the leftovers, if there are any!

Oh, and I call these "The World's Best Meatballs" because I don't have to make them.