[Old Gnome]

I'm not Italian. My ancestors came from England and Germany. However, I have loved Italian food forever. This recipe is adapted and passed through the filter of not only other cooks but my own experience. I hope you enjoy it. I am pretty generous with seasonings. I have been known to eat this sauce alone with bread.

2# sweet or mild Italian Sausage
2 cloves garlic, crushed
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
12 oz. can tomato paste
15 oz. can tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 ½+ teaspoons basil
½+ teaspoon fennel seeds
1+ teaspoon marjoram
1+ teaspoon thyme
1+ tablespoon oregano
¼+ teaspoon black pepper

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage and garlic over medium heat until well-browned. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer, covered, for about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. It can simmer on the stove all day long if you like.

Prep: 10 minutes
Brown Meat: 30 minutes
Cook Sauce: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 10 minutes

Yield: Approximately 12 cups of sauce. Freezes well.

 

[Colbyt]

fennel seeds? or ground fennel seeds?

 

[Old Gnome]

fennel seeds? or ground fennel seeds?

Fennel seeds, not ground.

 

[stickshift]

I worked for a gentleman in college who was a full blood Italian and quite a food person, including having been the food services director on campus and then being that person's supervisor when I was there. He didn't cook at home though, he taught his full German wife how to cook Italian food and one of the biggest treats in town was being invited over to their house for dinner.

 

[Wooleybooger]

Fennel seeds, not ground.

You can't go wrong with fennel seeds or the plant for that matter.

 

[Shane R]

I took my family to our area wood-fired pizza place today. We got 3 different pizzas and one was a simple Margherita. There twist on this classic was using a few tablespoons of pesto rather than the fresh basil most would expect. This really allowed me to taste their house tomato sauce and it was extremely sweet. The pesto was needed to cut through it a little.

 

[Two knots]

I'm not Italian. My ancestors came from England and Germany. However, I have loved Italian food forever. This recipe is adapted and passed through the filter of not only other cooks but my own experience. I hope you enjoy it. I am pretty generous with seasonings. I have been known to eat this sauce alone with bread.

2# sweet or mild Italian Sausage
2 cloves garlic, crushed
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
12 oz. can tomato paste
15 oz. can tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 ½+ teaspoons basil
½+ teaspoon fennel seeds
1+ teaspoon marjoram
1+ teaspoon thyme
1+ tablespoon oregano
¼+ teaspoon black pepper

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage and garlic over medium heat until well-browned. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer, covered, for about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. It can simmer on the stove all day long if you like.

Prep: 10 minutes
Brown Meat: 30 minutes
Cook Sauce: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 10 minutes

Yield: Approximately 12 cups of sauce. Freezes well.

Sounds good Old Gnome…I’m Italian and cook a lot of Italian food…my guy is German so, I cook
a lot of German food as well. I’ll be posting some Italian recipes and German recipes as well…And
also some Italian German blended recipes.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I don't usually make any special tomato sauce. I make marinara and use it for all kinds of Italian dishes.
Marinara is a mother sauce and the base of many other things.
For example if I want to make shrimp in red sauce I use the marinara along with other things that go into the recipe.
Its perfect for pizza as well. I don't use a raw pizza sauce.
I use it for lasagna (rarely make it) eggplant Parmesan as other examples.

 

[Two knots]

I don't usually make any special tomato sauce. I make marinara and use it for all kinds of Italian dishes.
Marinara is a mother sauce and the base of many other things.
For example if I want to make shrimp in red sauce I use the marinara along with other things that go into the recipe.
Its perfect for pizza as well. I don't use a raw pizza sauce.
I use it for lasagna (rarely make it) eggplant Parmesan as other examples.

I agree Roll Boones..I make a basic Italian Marinara sauce for everything. I only cook it usually for between 25 minutes and 30 minutes…it’s northern Italian style sauce, as they like the fresh tomato sauce taste…sometimes I cook it longer if I put meatballs and sausage in it. I’ll post my recipe in
another thread.

 

[Shane R]

I had a really good tomato crop the last year we lived in Virginia. I made fresh marinara for my children and I just about once a week once the tomatoes started coming in. They were an Italian variety but not Roma. They came to a point at the bottom and were sort of tear drop shaped. They were very sweet naturally.

My recipe was very simple: salt, garlic, olive oil, fresh ground pepper, and basil. The tomatoes were sweet enough that the sauce required no additional sugar. I would steam them for about 2 minutes until the skins could peel easily, then crush them up a bit. My kids got excited when marinara day came around.

 

[Old Gnome]

I miss growing tomatoes. I have no place to grow them where we live now.

 

[KitchenWench]

Last season's crop of San Marzano roma tomatoes was a bust so I didn't get to put up much sauce at all. Normally I get at least 3 dozen quarts and a dozen or so pints, this year it was barely a dozen quarts and 3 pints total.

When I make my base sauce all I do is peel, rough chop, sieve and reduce it with a bit of of crushed red pepper flakes before canning. That way I can tailor it to whatever flavor profile I want when I use it.

 

[Colbyt]

I miss growing tomatoes. I have no place to grow them where we live now.

I'm forced to grow mine in a flower bed along side the house. Don't get as many as I should but manage to get some.

 

[Wooleybooger]

I'm forced to grow mine in a flower bed along side the house. Don't get as many as I should but manage to get some.

Same here. Almost not worth the trouble.

 

[Old Gnome]

I'm forced to grow mine in a flower bed along side the house. Don't get as many as I should but manage to get some.

I could only grow them on the deck off the main floor. It faces north...

 

[Colbyt]

I could only grow them on the deck off the main floor. It faces north...

The only tomato that I have found that grows well in a pot is cherry tomatoes.

Our deck faces north also. I grow 4 trellised plants in 2 10 gallon pots and graze all summer long. Actually this year I picked the last cherries on Nov 15. Sweet Million is great, sweet 100 is also good. Lots of tasty snacks.

 

[Wooleybooger]

I try to grow and have grown tomatoes in our back north facing yard but the growing season here is long enough for that. I could use the front but afraid the neighbors would raid the plants.

 

[KitchenWench]

I'm blessed to have 2 garden areas, both of which are east facing with open southern sides that get sun from sunrise until late in the day. They're on 2 different levels; the upper is 10' x 20' and the lower is 10' x 50'. I've been able to have amazing harvests most years but with the heat and drought last summer I wasn't able to get anywhere close to years past. I've got hopes for this coming year though.

 

[Old Gnome]

We are far enough north that there isn’t enough afternoon sun. There is a thick stand of trees to our east, another story above the deck, and by the time the sun makes an appearance on the deck, the day is almost over.

 

[Wooleybooger]

On the Texas coast here the summer sun is pretty hot, burns up some stuff. I need to try fall tomatoes. With a little planning two crops can be done here.