[CH] Spagetti Sauce
Douglas Irvine (dougandmarie@home.com)
Fri, 26 May 2000 20:43:16 -0700
For everyone who has bay laurel leaves at their disposal, here is one of
the things that I do with them. This spagetti sauce came to me in 1951
when I was in hospital getting my appendix removed, and in the same
room, was an Italian artist, whose appendix burst while he was on a
scaffold, painting the dome of an Italian Catholic church. When he had
recovered a little I asked his mother for her spagetti sauce
recipe....fifty years and many changes later, here it is:
3 cups of peeled chopped fresh tomatoes, canned will do, if necessary!
1 6 oz can of tomato paste, mixed with 12 oz good dry red wine
1 large Texas Sweet, Vidalia, or whatever, good fresh, onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 bay leaves, broken in half
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp of oregano
2-3 chopped, seeded chiles, I have used every kind of hot chile in this
1-2 tbls good olive oil, not necessarily extra virgin, a used one is OK
Place the olive oil in a large pot, stainless steel is best, and get it
medium hot, not smoking...add the onions, garlic & oregano and get this
to a transparent stage, then add the tomatoes, and the tomato paste and
wine. Let this simmer for at least half an hour, until somewhat reduced.
Add the bay leaves, and simmer for another 45 minutes, until further
reduced. Add the chiles, and the fresh basil, and cook for another 15
minutes....taste for seasoning, salt and freshly ground black pepper,
may be added now. This is a basic sauce, or as the Italian friends of
mine say, gravy! To it may be added celery, with the onions, mushrooms
with the basil, red or green bell peppers, whenever.....use the
imagination, and add it anytime! Now, a couple other things...if you
wish to have it a little smoky, add Jim's smoked hab powder....if you
want it hotter than the peppers make it add some of Calvin's blend. I
rarely make this sauce twice the same way, but I have never, ever thrown
a pot out! YET!!!??
Enjoy it and do not forget to add the imagination. Cheers, Doug in BC