john said...
Troop (or anyone) -
Do you have a good o'le family spaghetti sauce recipe, preferably one that has few to no cans of tomato whatever than need to be opened? (Tomato paste is OK.)
We've had too many years of kids to remember what it was like NOT to just open a bottle of store-bought sauce.
Any good recipes or suggestions sincerely appreciated.
Ok here goes.
4 cloves of garlic
1 large sweet onion
1 table spoon salt
1 table spoon sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
3 Cans crushed tomatoes
3 glasses of wine.
Ok here's a quick and dirty sauce reciepe. Chop up the galic and fry it in olive oil. Now use just enough oil to thinly coat the frying pan. Use a large pan or even a wok for that matter. When the garlic is soft add a chopped up union. You can put it in the food processor to really mince it up. It will give the sauce body. Keep turning it as it camelizes.
Add one glass of wine to debride the pan. Then continue to drink the other two glasses while you are cooking.
Add the 3 cans of crushed tomatoes. Now my mom used to love to use Tomato puree but I never did. I prefer to use chopped tomatoes because once again it gives it a thicker country style flavor. If it feels too thick you can add a little water or even chicken stock. Just one tip. Try to add something at the same temp as what you are cooking. Don't put ice cold water into the mix as it is bubbling on the stove. Have a side pan of water boiling for the pasta and as it heats you can add a little to the sauce if it seem too thick to you.
Stir in the salt, sugar, pepper and bay leaves for flavor. Now you can leave out the bay leaves and instead substitute some fresh basil leaves. Put some in at the start to cook in the sauce and reserve some to add in at the end. That would make for an even sweeter sauce.
Bring this to a soft boil and then turn it down to a simmer. Let it cook for about a half an hour. Now some people boil their sauce for hours. Overnight. What a bunch of bullshit. You can make a tasty sauce in an hour. The longer simmer is if you are making a meat based sauce to cook the meats in it. Not so much for a quick marinara sauce.
After it has simmered for between 45 minutes and an hour you are ready to cook your pasta. I persoanlly prefer angel hair. Now your pasta should always be al dente. Or hard. You see it will still be cooking while it is in the bowl on the table. So put the pasta in the hot water you have on the stove and cook it from four to six minutes. Then take it out and add it a few strands at a time to your sauce. Stir it around so the pasta is fully coated. Now you can reserve a couple of cups on the side while you do this. Stir in the pasta and then put in a shitload of grated cheese. And if you use Kraft's I will personally come to your house and slap you.
Get a good pecarino or parmesan and add it to the pasta and sauce in the pan. That's why I like to use a wok sometimes. Hey I am a non-traditional cook. Smush it all around and when you take it out and put it in a bowl. You can add a scoop of the sauce to the top.
Serve with a bottle of wine and some crusty Italian bread.
