How do I make italian spaghetti sauce from scratch?

Question

My mom had a very old recipe from my aunt and it used cans of tomatoes and tomato paste and tomato sauce and who knows what else. It took hours to make and was fantastic.

Answer 1

Spaghetti Sauce Italiano
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 8 to 10 hours (low) or 4 to 5 hours (This can also be simmered on top of the stove if you don't have a slow cooker/crock pot)

Ingredients
1 pound Italian sausage - Sweet, hot or a combination
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14-1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained - I like to use the kind that have seasoning in them
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 4-ounce cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 large)
12 to 16 ounces dried spaghetti, cooked and drained
Finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
1. In a large skillet cook the sausage, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.

2. Meanwhile, in a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker stir together undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, bay leaf, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Stir in meat mixture.

3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours. Stir in sweet pepper. Discard bay leaf. Serve meat mixture over hot cooked spaghetti. If desired, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

4. Spicy Tomato-Cream Sauce: Prepare as above, except use hot Italian sausage and stir 1/2 cup whipping cream into sauce just before serving.

Answer 2

in my hometown (Tuscany, a small provincia) we have a specific recipe that we do it only during the holidays 1 onion 2 clove garlic minced 1 cup of chopped spinach 1 pack ground beef 3 Italian sausage 3 eggs 1 and half cup of Parmesan cheese 2 teaspoon of oregano 6 slice of mortadella chopped salt pepper to taste 2 can of crushed tomatoes(san marzano possibly or hunts) olive oil (to your discretion) 2 bay leaves put the meat in a bowl add the chopped onion the garlic the spinach the mortadella the oregano the eggs salt pepper and the Parmesan and the sausage. Mix with your hand very well the ingredientes. in a pot put some oil add all the mixer and with a wood spatula cook it until the meet is ready.add the tomatoes and let cook for at least 1 hour. Be carefully to mix some times otherwise it will burn ea sly and the flame need to be low and possibly a non stick pot. This sauce is great to be frozen and go well with any kind of pasta(homemade if possible) and even today when we have family meeting this is the sauce that everyone expet to see on the table....

Answer 3

To make just a meat sauce..not meatballs..but loose meat in the sauce do this.
Get 1 lb of meatloaf mix, fresh parsley, garlic, salt pepper, Italian cheese (grated, I use Lucatelli) eggs and bread crumbs, some fresh basil.
Put the meat in a Pyrex dish, spread it out.
Next put the salt and pepper to taste on top.
Now the cheese.
for 1 lb of meat I would use..3-4 eggs
Cut some fresh parsley, no stems..about 1/2 hand full put on top also.
Next bread crumbs and 5-6 pieces of fresh cut basil
Last cut up 4-5 pieces of garlic .Not whole pieces..the cloves
Mix all together well

In a pan big enough to hold 5 cans of Italian tomatoes (Rienzi. Tutto Russo, Centani..really any tomato packaged in Italy..PUT MEAT MIXTURE WITH SMALL AMOUNT OF OLIVE OIL and cook under medium flame. Turn often.
When meat is cooked, add tomatoes I can at a time to this pot.
Mix again and cover the pot, turn flame just so you see the tomatoes simmering..if the flame is to high the tomatoes will burn.
About every 1/2 hr, uncover and stir gently.
Now put the pan lid a little askew, so some of the water in the tomatoes boils off.
Let cook at least 3-4 hrs..and enjoy!!


EDIT: oops..forgot to tell you I put about a small handfull of the cheese in my mixture, and the pieces of basil need to be cut into small pieces.

Answer 4

There are many MANY variations of tomato sauce (aka bolognese) The simplest (and in my opinion least fussy yet most flavorful) recipe goes like this.
Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 10-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 10-oz can whole peeled plum tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn into large chunks (optional)
*The key to authentic Italian cuisine is its somplicity
In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil.
Once hot, add your garlic cloves and saute until they become very aromatic and slightly golden brown.
Add your tomatoes and heat until bubbling.
Turn down and simmer for about 1 hour.
Remove from the heat and stir in your basil(if using) and season to taste with salt and pepper.
ENJOY!
**You can also add meat/sauce if you desire, just saute it in the beginning before you add your tomatoes

Answer 5

Here's one I make all the time.

2lb ground turkey
1 can crushed tomatos, the oversized 18 or so ounce can
1 can beef broth
Generous palmful of Italian seasoning
1 Bay leaf
1 small chopped onion
Minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon of sugar


In your saucepot, scramble and brown the turkey, drain, and put back. Add onion, garlic, Italian season, and bay leaf, and broth. Cook for about 15 minutes, then remove bay leaf and add tomatos and sugar. Reduce heat and stir occasionally, letting the sauce simmer for at least one hour.

Answer 6

1Can of Tomato Paste
1Can of Tomato Sauce
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (dont drain them!)
1 Tablepoon dry basil, or stem of fresh
1 Tablepoon dry oregano
1 Large garlic clove, or 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 a shallot or 1 1/2 teaspoons of onion powder
3 Tablespoons white wine
Olive oil
Salt to taste

If using fresh garlic/onion: Mince garlic/onion add to heated olive oil in pot, cook until aroma is fragrant, about 4 min.
Add all 3 cans of tomato ingredients, add salt, and white wine. Allow to simmer. When about 10 minutes from finish add basil and oregano.

If using powdered garlic/onion:
Combine all can tomato ingredients, garlic and onion powder, salt and white wine. Allow to simmer. When about 10 minutes from finish add basil and oregano.


*If you want to add ground beef, or mushrooms you can: for mushrooms just add them when you add the tomato ingredients. For beef you can do the same, but "brown" the beef first, and drain the fat. Then add it.

*Whenever you use fresh onion or garlic you must cook them first to extract the flavor, so you can alter the recipe as needed. Always add herbs as close to the finish as possible!

Answer 7

tomato sauce,tomatoes tomato paste is a great start, but u can add other things too for flavor like onions,garlic,sweet basil, oregano, sugar other italian spices and of course meat and let it simmer real low for a few hours- enjoy!

Answer 8

In Italy there is no such thing as "Italian spaghetti sauce." There are, however, a large number of sauces that Italians put on different pastas, including spaghetti. You're probably referring to one of a number of tomato sauces: simple "sugo al pomodoro," amatriciana, diavola, bolognese, marinara, etc. You can find them in any decent Italian cookbook.

Answer 9

Oil, peper, salt, onions, and tomatoes and some basil. Basic natural and local ingredients if you can get them are alway the best.