So, I often have people ask me about how I make my spaghetti sauce. Well, I don't have a specific recipe, but I do have a method, it just varies each time I make it. I'll post that here and maybe it will help someone. :)
First, I either take canned organic tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, depending on what I have, what is in season, etc. and put them in the biggest pot I have. It's a lot. I'd say if I'm using canned it's 5-6 cans of diced tomatoes and if it's fresh then just whatever I happen to find, buy, and cut up goes in there but often it is a mix of those two. I add a big can or two of tomato sauce, also. All the tomato products together is normally about 2/3 of my big pot full.
Next, I add whatever spices I have available. Those are usually fresh basil, oregano, thyme, and salt, to taste, but sometimes I will just but the generic italain spices in there. I put this on medium and just let it get warm while I do the next step, which involves the vegetables.
Then, I chop up all of my veggies that I want to put in (I try to use organic veggies). These are pretty big chunks of most of the vegetables. After they are cleaned and chopped, I either steam them or sauté them in a separate pan, depending on what the veggie is and how I'm feeling like doing it at the time. I typically use zucchini, squash, carrots and spinach but sometimes I will add other things if we have them. After these are soft, I add them to the big pot and puree everything together with my emersion blender (make sure the mix isn't too hot when you are blending!). If you don't have an emersion blender, you could ladel everything into a regular blender or food processor a little at a time. I make sure to puree it very smooth because with my family (mostly my husband!) if they see the veggies then they don't really want to eat them! So, I make sure they aren't too visible. At this point I also check the color as I am doing it. If it gets too greenish, I will add more tomatoes or sauce. The off green color gives away that there are a lot veggies in it, and again, they won't eat it then, so I make sure it stays bright red. :) I also taste it now just to make sure it tastes just like regular out of the jar tomato sauce (since that is what they would prefer, anyway!) and it normally is tasting really good at this point.
To finish it off, I take some chopped onions, mushrooms, and garlic (chopped fine or grated) and sauté them in the pan with some olive oil. Then once they are soft I add them to the sauce. By this point my enormous pot is completely full. I let it sit, uncovered, and cook for hours. This makes the sauce thicken and the flavors mix together well. Usually it will go down about an inch or two from where it started by the time it is done cooking.
One it is done I let it cool and then freeze it in 3 cup portions to eat whenever we want! And of course, we usually have some that night, too. :) I use this sauce for everything because of the hidden veggies in it. We do pizza, spaghetti, ziti, lasagna, and even sloppy joes with this as the base for the sauce. So I'm sorry that's not an actual recipe, but that's about as close as I can get, since it varies each time. It's always tasty, though!
First, I either take canned organic tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, depending on what I have, what is in season, etc. and put them in the biggest pot I have. It's a lot. I'd say if I'm using canned it's 5-6 cans of diced tomatoes and if it's fresh then just whatever I happen to find, buy, and cut up goes in there but often it is a mix of those two. I add a big can or two of tomato sauce, also. All the tomato products together is normally about 2/3 of my big pot full.
Next, I add whatever spices I have available. Those are usually fresh basil, oregano, thyme, and salt, to taste, but sometimes I will just but the generic italain spices in there. I put this on medium and just let it get warm while I do the next step, which involves the vegetables.
Then, I chop up all of my veggies that I want to put in (I try to use organic veggies). These are pretty big chunks of most of the vegetables. After they are cleaned and chopped, I either steam them or sauté them in a separate pan, depending on what the veggie is and how I'm feeling like doing it at the time. I typically use zucchini, squash, carrots and spinach but sometimes I will add other things if we have them. After these are soft, I add them to the big pot and puree everything together with my emersion blender (make sure the mix isn't too hot when you are blending!). If you don't have an emersion blender, you could ladel everything into a regular blender or food processor a little at a time. I make sure to puree it very smooth because with my family (mostly my husband!) if they see the veggies then they don't really want to eat them! So, I make sure they aren't too visible. At this point I also check the color as I am doing it. If it gets too greenish, I will add more tomatoes or sauce. The off green color gives away that there are a lot veggies in it, and again, they won't eat it then, so I make sure it stays bright red. :) I also taste it now just to make sure it tastes just like regular out of the jar tomato sauce (since that is what they would prefer, anyway!) and it normally is tasting really good at this point.
To finish it off, I take some chopped onions, mushrooms, and garlic (chopped fine or grated) and sauté them in the pan with some olive oil. Then once they are soft I add them to the sauce. By this point my enormous pot is completely full. I let it sit, uncovered, and cook for hours. This makes the sauce thicken and the flavors mix together well. Usually it will go down about an inch or two from where it started by the time it is done cooking.
One it is done I let it cool and then freeze it in 3 cup portions to eat whenever we want! And of course, we usually have some that night, too. :) I use this sauce for everything because of the hidden veggies in it. We do pizza, spaghetti, ziti, lasagna, and even sloppy joes with this as the base for the sauce. So I'm sorry that's not an actual recipe, but that's about as close as I can get, since it varies each time. It's always tasty, though!
3 comments:
Thanks for putting that on here- I used to make my own and then lost my knack- got in a rut I guess and the plain old canned stuff was pretty cheap. Then last year I started making it with tomatoes out of our garden and it's so much better, but I haven't done much with fresh herbs and I love the idea of blending some veggies in- sounds great!
This is so great!! I'm not really into cooking, so I can see how making and freezing the sauce ahead of time could make a lot of things easier, and I LOVE how it has all those veggies mixed in. I'm definitely going to try this!!!
Hi, I stumbled upon your blog through the Mothering commune. This sounds like a great way to sneak in veggies. My kids have gotten so picky lately! I've never tried doing that many different ones, I usually just put some kale in-chopped up really fine-they think it's parsley. I like the look of your other recipes as well and you've given me some good ideas for meals, I'll keep checking back for more! Thanks!
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