Tomaso Family Red Sauce

This recipe was given to me by my niece. Her father-in-law is Italian. I've made minor changes. I will be adding photos soon.

 

Ingredients

3 28 oz cans of Hunt's Marzano whole peeled tomatoes

1 12 oz can of tomato paste

1 white onion

5 pods of garlic

1/2 tablespoon sugar (original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon but half works perfectly.)

1 tablespoon of table salt

1 tablespoon tablespoon oregano

6 ounces of water

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons of olive oil (or whatever you have)

1 lb lean ground meat

1 lb Italian sausage

optional for spicy sauce: crushed red pepper to taste.(I don't do this.)

Directions:

1. Finely mince the onion
2. Use garlic press on the garlic pods (mincing them doesn't get it as small as I like.)
3. Place large pot on stove and pour oil, garlic and onion and turn to medium heat.
4. Sauté for about 15 minutes. (until onion and garlic are soft not browned.)
5. Turn off burner and remove pot.
6. Open the cans of tomatoes and individually inspect and remove and stray tomato peel and hard ends.
7. Crush them and put them in the large pot with all the tomato can juice.
8. Open the tomato paste can and empty into large pot.
9. Add the salt, sugar, Italian seasoning, table salt, oregano, sugar and water to the large pot. (Add the optional crushed red pepper.
10. Place pot back on the burner and turn on to medium and stir. Cover with lid but leave room for heat to escape. I leave my stirring spoon in and the lid against it.

After about 20 minutes the sauce is heated and small bubbling occurs. Lower to about medium low. Stir often (I do about every 15 - 20 minutes) to avoid any burning of the sauce.

Your stovetop heat may vary so make sure it is not to hot. It should be simmering and not boiling.

I recommend 5 hours of cooking. Four also works but the longer you leave it the better it tastes in my opinion.

Meat (Optional but it makes the sauce so much better!):

1. Brown the sausage completely, drain, pat dry and place in large bowl.
2. Brown the ground meat completely, drain pat dry and place in the large bowl. (No need to salt and pepper.) 
3. Refrigerate until needed.

Optional if you don't want chunky sauce:

1. After sauce is done cooking set aside to cool. (Stir often to help it cool.)
2. My family does not like "chunky" sauce, so after the sauce is cooled enough to handle, I place it in the blender for a few seconds and transfer to a large bowl. 

Add the meat directly into the sauce and you are done!

Since I don't know how to can the sauce just yet, I store the sauce I will not use right away in the freezer. I use glass jars but don't fill to the top. I leave about an inch so there's room for expansion.

When I need sauce, I defrost a can and the family swears it is as good as the fresh batch. I agree!