recipe

[low_delta]

I'm looking for a recipe for spaghetti sauce that is very thick, rich and dark. can anyone help me out?

Comments

[seamusd.livejournal.com]

I sometimes cook such a sauce but I've never written down a recipe. I'll tell you that I use tomato paste (1 to 4 ratio to sauce), red wine and brown sugar (about half a cup in a large pot), among other things like mushrooms, onion, garlic, herbs, etc. (I think of it as a kind of anything-goes-Italian soup) and cook it for at least 3 hours, the longer the better. The Italians say, "to thicken is to condense."

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I think tomato paste is the key. And probably the brown sugar. Thanks!

[vlinker.livejournal.com]

seamusd has great suggestions for you.......for thick sauce you need to let it cook down for a while.......but some nice roma tomatoes (or some ground sundried ones) can add a spark....it might be heresy, but i put chili powder in my sauce....the longer you are going to cook it, the less dried spices you should use........

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips. I wonder how much stuff I should start with to get a given amount of sauce at the end.

Re:

[vlinker.livejournal.com]

i dunno........any leftover is always good for lunches

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

use more paste than sauce (or crushed toms)
and use some brown sugar~
it's not gonna LOOK really dark though~
only if you add meat, me thinks! some ground beef'll beef it up!
oh! or you could make it with chocolate! ooo! yeah!
or molasses! nah, too ... sticky and stuff~ ha.
m'kay. all done here.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

A little brown shoe polish does wonders for the color but it tastes terrible!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Molasses. I suppose with the sugar, I'd need more paste to unsweeten it for Cyn.

[tully-monster.livejournal.com]

Add at least half a cup of chianti.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me!

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

ooooyeahbabee~

[shoo.livejournal.com]

OOOooo!
you know how much I make that stuff...;)

I start it out in the morning first off..
I brown hamburger and mild Italian sausage then set aside.

Sautee' chopped onions, carrots and Italian herbs and add to meat mixture.

Add crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce
Red wine, a bit of sugar (to take away the tartness of the canned tomatoes) carrots help with that too.

then you simmer it all together for 3 or more hours until it is thick and dark...the longer you cook it, the darker brown it gets. I use about 1lb of hamburger and 5 sausage links...

I hope I didn't forget anything.

mmmm

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

:-)~

Carrots, huh? I can't imagine how that woudl taste, but I think I'd like it. A friend says his Italian ex-in-laws put potatoes in. But that's different.

Re: mmmm

[shoo.livejournal.com]

LOL!
I think that is the same principal...potatoes help absorb the acid too!
Potatoes are also good to add to food that gets too salty....

Sal and I developed this rough recipe from people on his side of the family...(they are all sicilians) Some of them put a county rib in the meat sauce until it is cooked...it adds a real meaty flavor as well...

we also grow fresh italian parsley and oregano that we add to the sauce at the end...MMmm.

Re: mmmm

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I've got to get a source for fresh herbs. I keep running across recipes that call for frehs parsley.

(This makes it look like I cook a lot! :-D )

Re: mmmm

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

"snipped" parsley...did you ever find out what that is exactly?