I have a mom that loves to cook. And she taught me how to make a simple pasta sauce. But I often times looking for different things to do to it. Or I might need MORE of it or less of it. So this recipe is inspired from my mom’s and tweaked to my creation. However my mom is still the best cook ever. 🙂
This pot of Pasta Sauce I use in alot of my cooking. I make quite a bit of it and always have left overs I can put in a zip top bag and freeze for another meal. If this is too much you are welcome to divide the recipe in half. But pasta sauce always taste better the next day and even when I freeze and reuse it is pretty amazing!
We have a garden and we grow alot of tomatoes however sometimes I don’t have any and can still make this suace with diced can tomatoes. I will include both variations in my recipe.
And my NEW favorite add in to my suace is…..
Pesto!! I get this at Aldi’s. I use this ALOT now. I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS STUFF!! Always putting some in my cooking. DELISH!!!
This pasta sauce is VERY EASY to make- however the longer you allow it to simmer the full amount of time the better. Just keep that in mind 🙂
Ingredients:
1 small or medium onion diced (depends on much you enjoy I always do medium)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (i use from a jar i have on hand already minced)
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 – 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (I get it at Aldi’s and it only comes in little 8 oz cans)
2- 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes (or you can use 1 can and then use 4-5 fresh tomatoes diced, or if you have alot of tomatoes approx 10 will be enough for 2 full cans)
1- 6 oz tomato paste
1- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoon pesto (I use approx half the jar or you can use less if you are not a huge fan of basil)
1/2 – 1 tblsp Italian seasoning
1/8 c of sugar
salt/pepper to taste
Directions:
1- In a large pot, add EVOO (olive oil), Chopped/Diced onions, garlic salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat your onions till they are mostly cooked and almost translucent
2- add in your cans (or fresh) diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and crushed tomato and stir well
3- Raise temperature to medium/high once the sauce is starting to get warm- add in your pesto and mix well
4-Add your Italian Seasoning. I add between 1/2 – 1 tablespoon. I don’t really measure I do all this eyeballing.
5- Getting 1/8 of a cup of sugar add a little bit at a time and taste your sauce with a clean spoon. The sugar is to cut the tomato acidity. It all depends on if you used fresh or can. You may or may not use all 1/8 of a cup
6- add salt and pepper to taste
7- Once your sauce comes to a boil, turn heat down to simmer, and allow to simmer for 1-2 hours with a lid on your pot. Stirring occasionally.
You may let it simmer for 3 hours if you want but I have found that 2 hours is pretty good. If you need to use it immediately, you can but the flavors have not had time to marry very well and won’t be as delicious. Just my 2 cents.
[…] I first start my pasta sauce if I do not have some in the freezer from making before hand. Here is a link to my pasta sauce that I use on many of my recipes. — CLICK HERE […]