Homemade Sauce - For Pasta

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, right? Recently, life has been throwing non-stop fast balls directly at my head. Or back, since that is what has been my recent setback. I started my physical therapy last week and even though I understand why it is a beginning to end process, the exercises are simple and I am not feeling any better. I think they are just trying to get my baseline and work from there. We will see next week when I go back and see what they have in store for me.

As an "I AM SO SORRY FOR BEING A HORRIBLE BLOGGER", I present to you my sauce recipe, which did win the office sauce off, mind you. I am not Italian, but I married into an Italian family, so I learned how to make this right quick.

Materials

• Large Pot
• Cutting board
• Knives
• Large mixing bowl
• Food processor (I have a ninja stick blender that came with an attachment)
• 9x13 baking dish

Ingredients

Sauce

• Garlic (4-6 cloves minced)
• Ground Sausage (or whatever meat you like)
• 1 105 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 4.5 oz cans of tomato paste
• 3 14.5 oz cans of water
• Fresh basil - chopped - to taste
• Fresh oregano - chopped - to taste
• Salt and pepper - to taste

Meatballs

• Meatloaf mixture (ground pork, beef, and veal; however, you can use what you want)
• Sweet Italian sausage (same as above)
• 1 medium/large onion - diced
• 3-5 cloves of garlic - minced
• Fresh basil - chopped - to taste
• Fresh oregano - chopped - to taste
• Salt and pepper - to taste
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese - To taste
• 2-5 eggs
• 2-4 cups of bread crumbs

For the sauce

1. In the large pot, saute 4-6 cloves of garlic in olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until you have a strong cooked garlic smell coming from the pot.
2. Place in about ½ pound of ground sweet Italian sausage (or your favorite meat; ground beef, veal, chicken, hot sausage, etc.) and brown completely through.
3. Once this is browned, take mixture out and place in mixing bowl.
4. Add mixture to food processor in order to make a fine chop. I use the pulse method and only put in about a ½ cup of the mixture at a time. If you want larger chunks of meat in the sauce, you can skip this step.
5. Once the mixture is to the texture you desire, place mixture back into pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes. 
6. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste to the pot. Stir together and add the water to the mixture. My favorite brands are Hunts or Cortadina’s, but use what you like. And if you can your own tomatoes, I envy you. Stir and bring heat up to medium/high.
7. Add basil, oregano, salt, and pepper to the mixture. There is no measurement to the spices. I used fresh basil and oregano. I add what I think I will need and throughout the cooking process, I will taste the sauce to see if I need to add any more. 
8. Let the sauce sit over medium/high heat for about 20 minutes and then turn down the heat to a simmer. 

For the meatballs – you can use any meats that you like. In this recipe is what I used in the sauce-off

1. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, add ground sweet Italian sausage, ground beef, ground veal, and ground pork (the last three can be bought as a meatloaf mix in most stores)
3. Dice one medium yellow/white onion and garlic. Run through the food processor until you get a very fine chop. Add onion and garlic mixture to the ground meat
4. Add basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. There is no exact measurement, add to your taste. If you do not like cheese, you do not have to add.
5. Add eggs to the mixture. Add these eggs one at a time and mix through. You want a consistency of a gooey mess. 
6. Add bread crumbs to the mixture. I prefer Italian-Seasoned Panko Bread Crumbs. They have a really nice texture and crisp up nicely in the oven. Add the bread crumbs ½ cup at a time and mix through. You want the finished mixture to bind together in meatballs without falling apart. If you add too much breadcrumbs, add an egg and try making a meatball again. 
7. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with an olive oil or cooking spray. When cooking for family, I usually make larger meatball. When cooking for a party, I make smaller meatball. It is all up to what you want to make. Line up the meatballs side by side in the dish. They can touch. And if you made a ton of the mixture, you might need more than one baking dish!
8. Depending on the size of the meatballs is how long they will cook. For smaller, about 15-25 minutes. For larger, about 20-30 minutes. They should be cooked through but not burn to a crisp. 
9. Take out of the oven and let sit for about 15 minutes. Once they are taken out, place them into your pot of sauce. 

The longer you let the sauce simmer, the better the sauce will taste. I start my process at around 9am and we eat around 6pm. And the sauce tastes better the next day!

My biggest recommendation for this recipe is TWEAK IT! Make it your own. The basis of this recipe was given to me by my best friend and I made it to the liking of my family. Add more garlic, use ground turkey meat, use freshly canned tomatoes (which if you can do, more power to you, I cannot). I try different techniques every time I make this sauce and it turns out better than the last.