Red Sauce

My Italian grandmother Angela use to make an incredible red sauce. Not long after my parents were married she made sure my mother had the recipe too. When I think of childhood meals spaghetti with red sauce tops the list. My mom has showed me how to make it and has written it down more than once, but still the red sauce I make is no where near as good as my grandmothers. I'm not sure there were any exact measurements plus I choose to leave out the pork shoulder which I'm sure adds a lot of flavor. All I know for sure is that it was made with love and in large quantities. My version is slightly different every time I make it but I wanted to at least record the basics for my girls.

Start with a BIG can of tomato sauce. The 6 lb, 10 oz can from Costco only costs a few dollars (which is another reason why I love this recipe).

Add a can of stewed, diced or crushed Italian tomatoes.

One medium carrot shredded. This dissolves into the sauce to add a little sweetness, you'd never know it was there. This is my substitute for sugar to balance out the acidity in the tomatoes.

Garlic. Add as little or as much as you like.

Spices. I usually just go through the cabinet and add a palm size amount of anything that sounds Italian. Today I added dried oregano, parsley, basil and a smaller amount of red pepper flakes.

Leftovers. This is also a clean out the fridge sort of meal. I had a 1/2 cup of sauteed onions so I diced them up and through them in.

Finally I added one pound of browned ground beef (from the freezer). I have also done this with sauteed mushrooms and it tastes great.

Now just stir it all together and let it simmer on low for the afternoon. I set some aside for that night then divide up the rest into containers for the freezer. It makes enough for 4 pasta dinners and 4 pizzas at our house. So there you go, my (loose) version of Angela's Red Sauce.