I've been making this for about 4 years, but recently had a dry spell with it while meal planning was an afterthought to a new baby. I made it again last night and was reminded how much I love it, and how worth the effort it is.
1 29oz can diced tomatoes (or whole tomatoes)
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
1/2 an onion (or a whole small/medium one)
5 Tbs butter
a grind of black pepper
1 lb Italian sausage (we like both mild and hot)
optional:
bell peppers, carrots, garlic, herbs (oregano, basil)
- Put the butter, half onion, pepper, and tomatoes (and/or sauce), undrained, in a big sauce pan. Add dry herbs or garlic now.
- Bring the tomatoes to a simmer on medium-high heat.
- Turn the heat down to medium/low and let it simmer till the butter has incorporated into the tomatoes and the whole thing is saucy, about 30 min. Smash down the tomatoes with your spoon and stir it occasionally.
- While the sauce is cooking, cook your sausage and crumble it (take it out of the casings if you can't find ground sausage). Chop your bell peppers or grate a carrot if you're using it.
- Dump the cooked sausage into the completed sauce.
- Take the onion out of the sauce and chop it up. Add it and your chopped veggies to the pan you cooked the sausage in and fry them for a minute or two. Dump it in the sauce.
- Add some pasta water to the spaghetti sauce to make it smoother and stick to your pasta better.
- Add any fresh herbs and stir them in.
We like to eat this on thick pasta like cellentani or linguini or fusilli that's had plenty of salt in the water. And freshly grated parmesan is delicious, too.
Adapted from smittenkitchen.com
