Spaghetti Sauce

Judie’s Spaghetti Sauce

Yield: 6 – 8 servings

As my granddaughter, Taylor, says, “A recipe is just a guideline.” Especially true of my sauce recipe. The amounts don’t need to be exact. You might not have Italian sausage – Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage is fine. You might need to stretch the amount and add extra tomatoes. You can add more red wine, or leave it out. I bet you end up making this your own version!

It’s an all-purpose sauce. Use it as-is on spaghetti, as sauce for Chicken Cacciatore, on meatball sandwiches, or wherever you need Italian sauce. In my kitchen, leftover sauce often finds its way as a base for vegetable soup (non-vegetarian).

Freezer in freezer bags up to 2 months.

1 pound Italian sausage (hot or mild or a mix)

1 pound ground chuck

1 onion, diced

2 – 5 cloves garlic, finely minced (amount depends on your taste and size of cloves)

1, 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1, 12-ounce can tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried Italian mixed herbs (or several tablespoons chopped fresh herbs*)

1 tablespoon A-1 Sauce

1, 10 ½ -ounce can beef broth

½ cup red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

  1. Cook sausage and ground chuck in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, chopping with a spoon or spatula as it cooks. When meat is almost done, drain off fat and liquid. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender.
  2. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, A-1 Sauce, beef broth, and red wine. Simmer on low heat for 30 to 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

*Such as rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, savory, marjoram.

Extra: Depending on what I’m using this sauce for, who will be eating it, and what I have on hand, I like to add capers (about 1 tablespoon), Kalamata olives, and/or extra slivered garlic.