I like simple tomato sauce. It is a good start for lots of Italian dishes. For spaghetti, I brown Italian sausage or meatballs and mix with the sauce until it reduces to the desired consistency. Because I usually cook this again, I leave it a little thinner than a final sauce.
I use a mix of tomatoes and basil varieties to add depth of flavor. Experiment to see what you like.
Ingredients
6 lbs tomatoes, de-skinned and quartered
3 medium onions, diced
1 head of garlic (about 8 cloves) peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups fresh basil, chopped
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
Yields 3 pints
Directions
1. Peel tomatoes by boiling each for 30 seconds and dipping in ice water.
2. Heat oil in a dutch oven over med-high heat. Saute onions for about 5 minutes until tranlucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute more.
3. Add tomatoes, stir to mix, and bring to simmer. Low heat to med-low to maintain a good simmer. Stir very infrequently to prevent scorching. Stirring too often hinders the reduction.
4. The sauce should reduce by about 2/3 in 90 minutes or so. Add red wine and chopped basil. Cook for another 15 minutes.
5. Transfer sauce to sterilized pint jars. Place in a pressure canner with about 2 inches of water. Process for 20 minutes. Use sauce in the next 6-9 months.
