What I love about spaghetti sauce is how versatile this is. When you make this, I encourage you to play around with different spices or add ins (like meat). I'll try to explain it the best I can through text and pictures, but let me know if you have any questions!
Ingredients:
*Two large cans of crushed tomatoes-I've used diced tomatoes before, but prefer the smooth texture of the crushed tomatoes. You can definitely use diced if you want it to be chunkier though!
*Two small cans of tomato sauce
*A head of garlic-I only used a couple pieces, which was more than enough.
*Red Wine-I use Livingston Chianti, which is only about $8. My boyfriend works in the Wine & Spirits department at our local grocery store and everyone there said it's the best to cook with at a decent price.
*Olive Oil-forgot to include it in the picture, but it's important if you're using fresh garlic!
Spices/Herbs:
*Kosher salt-if you don't have it, just use regular salt. I do prefer kosher for cooking though.
*Pepper
*Basil
*Thyme
*Parsley
*Morton's Nature's Seasonings-if you don't have this, I recommend getting it. It's only $2-3 and it's AWESOME.
*Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute-not necessary if you don't have it, I just like adding it to my sauce since I always have it on hand.
Tools:
*A big soup pot-my roommate, Kelley, is nice enough to always let me use hers since I don't have my own yet.
*A cutting board and large knife (to crush the garlic on/with)
*A wooden spoon
*A can opener
Step one: crush the garlic by placing as many pieces as you want on your cutting board, placing the large knife flat on top of each piece, and smacking it (carefully) with your hand to make it burst open.
Step two heat a tiny bit of the olive oil in the pan on medium heat and add the crushed garlic chunks. Cook until the garlic starts to slightly brown and you can smell it. Make sure to move it around so it doesn't burn.
Step three: Add the wine! If you don't like wine or want the sauce to be thicker, only add a little bit of wine. If you like the taste of wine or want it to be thinner, add more wine. I just add enough to make the large pot about an eighth of an inch full. Let the wine and garlic cook on low heat for about 15-30 minutes.
Step four: add both cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce to the pot and mix it all together.
Step five: add the spices. I always add a basically equal amount of everything and then taste the sauce every hour to see if it needs more of anything. If you don't like one of the spices I used or want to add something I didn't picture, go for it! This recipe is super versatile.
Step six: keep the sauce cooking on low and mix every half hour or so. Taste it here and there to see if you want to add anything to it. I recommend cooking it for at least six hours to allow the flavors to really meld together nicely.
*Sidenote: this is the part where you'd add any meat. I did last time I made this recipe, but I wanted to keep it simple this time for the sake of the blog.
Step seven: serve or store in freezer bags (make sure to let it cool if you plan on putting it in freezer bags first).
*This recipe makes about 6-10 servings depending on serving size by the way
Let me know if you found this helpful and how your sauce turned out if you make it!
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise
