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Celtic Radio Community > From Your Kitchen to My Plate > Help!


Posted by: Elspeth 22-Aug-2005, 09:42 AM
I'm getting a bunch of tomatoes today and I need some good spaghetti sauce suggstions. I like to cook by the seat of my pants, but figure input would be great.

What do you all put in made from scratch spaghetti sauce?

(sorry if I'm in the wrong thread shadows, but I'm in a hurry rolleyes.gif )

Posted by: Eventide 22-Aug-2005, 01:48 PM
Sauce: Tomato-Basil-Garlic
Serves 6

12 cups chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 teapoon sugar
Freshly ground black pepper(optional)
Salt(optional)
1/4 cup chiffonaded fresh basil for garnish

In a large nonstick saucepan, combine tomatoes, garlic, basil, and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes. season to taste with pepper and salt(optional).

I generally use this as an easy sauce base for the following recipe which uses veggies and herbs and turns out well even if you are pressed for time. I improvise when I don't have all the ingredients either. smile.gif
Fresh seasonal vegetables are sauteed in vegetable stock instead of oil to release their flavours. Fresh herbs add an Italian taste to this savory tomato based pasta sauce.

I call it:

Italian Vegetables with Sauce.
Here is a guideline, feel free to increase or decrease any portion of the herbs or veggies; this recipe is highly versatile, you may substitute any vegetable.
serves 4

2 tablespoons water or stock/broth
1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper. seeded and coarsely chopped
2-3 whole peeled or unpeeled, tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 small zucchini(green or yellow), cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 red onion, chopped
1(or more) garlic cloves, minced
1 14 oz can spaghetti sauce(or following recipe)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon sea salt(optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large skillet. If using canned tomatoes, heat all the ingredients except the pasta. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 15-20 mins, or until al dente. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well and serve with the vegetable sauce. Add chiffonaded basil at the last possible minute.

If you choose to make the base first, heat all the prepared vegetables and herbs, add 4 cups of the saucebase to the pot.(the remainder may be used for other recipes).Cover and cook over medium low heat for 15-20 mins, or until al dente. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well and serve with the vegetable sauce. Add chiffonaded basil at the last possible minute.

Enjoy!



Posted by: Eventide 22-Aug-2005, 01:51 PM
^Instead of (following recipe) I meant (see recipe above)..Doh!

Posted by: Shadows 22-Aug-2005, 03:50 PM
We normally can our tomatoes whole then use them like fresh later to make a variety of sauces, this one is from the Olive Garden:

Recipe Name: OLIVE GARDEN SPAGHETTI SAUCE
Category: COPYCAT
Serves: 1

-----waldine van geffen-----
2 Pound Ground round
2 tb Oil
14 Ounces Can stewed tomatoes
6 Ounces V-8 juice
1 Pound Jar prego spaghetti sauce
1 Each Env onion soup mix
1/2 Cup Grape jelly


Brown meat in oil until pink color disappears. Crumble with fork.
Stir in tomatoes, V-9 juice, Prego, soup mix and grape jelly. Cook,
stirring often, 15 to 20 minutes or until jelly melts and sauce is
piping hot.

Source: Gloria Pitzer's newsletter.



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Posted by: Sekhmet 22-Aug-2005, 03:59 PM
Grape jelly? ::oddlook:: Never in my life would I have thought to use that.

Posted by: Shadows 22-Aug-2005, 04:04 PM
QUOTE (Sekhmet @ 22-Aug-2005, 05:59 PM)
Grape jelly? ::oddlook:: Never in my life would I have thought to use that.

You will find it pleasant and surprising! wink.gif

Experiment with different jams and jellies, peach and rasberry are also very good!

Posted by: Sekhmet 22-Aug-2005, 04:05 PM
Hrm...wonder if those hot berry preserves would do something...

Posted by: Shadows 22-Aug-2005, 04:08 PM
QUOTE (Sekhmet @ 22-Aug-2005, 06:05 PM)
Hrm...wonder if those hot berry preserves would do something...

You can bet your apron they would LOL! I have used hot pepper jelly when I want something that bites back ! smile.gif

Posted by: Shadows 22-Aug-2005, 04:19 PM
Search this link; all of the pages, you might find something here:

http://www.celticradio.net/php/forums/index.php?showtopic=2132&st=0

Posted by: Sekhmet 22-Aug-2005, 04:37 PM
...you are an evil, evil man, Shadows. Now I'm hungry.

Posted by: stoirmeil 22-Aug-2005, 04:48 PM
That's for people who like their pasta sauces sweet. smile.gif I've also heard of using currant preserves with the meat drippings and tomato, for example, to make a sauce after roasting a brisket.

I prefer my pasta sauces on the spicy side, not sweet, and it's not low-fat, I warn you, though you can refrigerate it overnight after cooking so the fat rises and congeals, and then lift it off in one chunk, while still keeping the rich flavor. Better anyway -- the flavors meld overnight. This is a New England pork-based red sauce that the Azorians and Portuguese around the whaling port of New Bedford love. You can put it on pasta, or with more meat and peppers in it, serve it as a hot sandwich on long hero rolls (we call them "grinders" back home smile.gif )

5 or 6 pounds fresh tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes (we like plum tomatoes)
8 oz imported Italian tomato paste (not Hunts sad.gif )
1 large sweet red onion
8 to 10 cloves garlic (yeah, at least that much)
dried basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram, rosemary ("Italian mix")
2 lbs. boneless lean pork chops, thin ring of fat around
1 lb chourico sausage (a spicy, brilliant red portuguese pork sausage)
5 or 6 large Bell peppers (both green and sweet red)
good olive oil

whisper of sugar, if you must, though the red onion and red peppers take care of it

salt to taste, near the end of cooking, though there's some in the sausage. Fresh tomatoes take up more salt than canned.

So -- once you know what's in it, it's predictable what to do. Chop the onion and peppers, and mince the garlic. In a big heavy-bottom stock pot with some olive oil and some of the fat trimming from the chops, saute these till the onion is transparent and the garlic is golden, and the peppers are getting soft. Cut the chops and sausage into chunks and add to the onions and peppers, and sprinkle in the dried herbs (I use close to a tablespoon combined. This is a big pot of sauce) and sugar if you must. Saute hot to seal the meat -- you may need a little more olive oil, although sausage will start to let off fat. Don't pour it off -- wait till the end to refrigerate it and let it rise. The spice mix in these sausages is what gives this sauce a taste like nothing else.

You're going to want to scoop some of the meat mix out and have a wee sandwich right then and there. Go ahead. angel_not.gif and have some dry red wine too.

Add chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook at medium heat for a half hour or until the tomatoes are mush, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes against the pot. Reduce heat to very low, and cook it down for a good few hours, until the sauce is much reduced and quite thick. It will turn rather dark red as well, not tomato-bright, and that is the way it is supposed to look. In the last half hour of cooking, add a bit more of the mixed Italian herbs (maybe 1/2 teaspoon) for a top note.

Freezes beautifully. thumbs_up.gif

Posted by: Shadows 22-Aug-2005, 04:53 PM
QUOTE (Sekhmet @ 22-Aug-2005, 06:37 PM)
...you are an evil, evil man, Shadows. Now I'm hungry.

laugh.gif tongue.gif biggrin.gif I have been called worse! wink.gif censored.gif

Eat , drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die!

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