Spaghetti Sauce

pie_eyes

Not completely sure about the measurements, I usually use my eye for pretty much all of it. But this is my favorite recipe to make - the secret is really the wine. The higher the quality of the wine, the better. I intentionally let this sauce simmer over a couple of hours, so this is definitely not a quick 30 minute sauce or anything.

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Ingredients:

6 tomatoes, on the vine
1 can of tomato paste, 6 oz
Onion, 1/2 cup chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup oregano
1/4 cup basil
2 tsp thyme
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
8 oz of cabernet sauvignon

Note - I wish I could recommend my favorite wine to use with this but I only had it once and can't remember the name. But I tend to use Woodbridge more often than not.

Method:

Heat a pot of water to a boil.

Wash and de-stem tomatoes, cut an X at their bottoms and put in boiling water for less than a minute until their skins start to peel. Shock them in a large bowl of ice water until they're cold again (Don't leave them in the ice water too long, as to avoid the tomatoes absorbing the water) Peel the tomatoes and put them in your blender. Pulse until the tomatoes are liquid.

Heat a large pot to medium; add olive oil, chopped onions and garlic. Saute until fragrant.

Pour the the pulsed tomatoes into the pot and stir. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for a half hour. Cover.

Return to your pot and stir again. Add the tomato paste and stir until the paste has melted into the sauce. Stir and re-cover. Simmer the sauce for another hour, going back to stir occassionally, every 15 to 20 minutes

(Note that the sauce WILL attack you every time you uncover it, so do it slowly and use the lid as a shield between you and the sauce while you stir. Stirring it will make the sauce calm down)

After the hour is up stir in the spices. Cover again for another half hour. By this the time the sauce should have calmed down. After another half hour add the balsamic vinegar and wine. Cover and simmer for a final half hour.

Pour over spaghetti noodles and your choice of meat. I buy Sabatino's Roasted Garlic and Basil Chicken Meatballs.

Questions and comments are welcomed and appreciated and I'd also like to hear from other people who are experienced with making pasta sauce and any alterations they might confer.

AmberSpamber

Sounds awesome. I am keeping this one. Thanks for sharing!