ActiveRecipe Blog

I found the best Italian Spaghetti Sauce recipe!

I am Italian so my family has had there share of delicious, wonderful excellent spaghetti sauce. Of course with no real recipe to be handed down, a pinch of this and a pinch of that and add something a little different every time depending on what is in the kitchen. They are great cooks!

I on the other hand really need a recipe that says 1/2 teaspoon and not a pinch of this. Sure I change my recipes all the time sometimes they turn out sometimes not so good. But I wanted a recipe for pasta that would be good every time, and I found it! In the Rosine’s cook book.

Rosine’s Infamous Spaghetti Sauce

3 onions
1 whole bulb garlic, peeled
1 bunch parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lb. lean ground beef
5 (14 1/2 oz.) cans stewed tomatoes or Italian stewed tomatoes
4 (15 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
3 tsp. sweet basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2-5 Tb. sugar, depending on tartness of tomatoes

Using processor or by hand, finely chop the onions, garlic and parsley. Cook slowly in preheated oil in a heavy cast iron pot, stirring frequently until onions are translucent, about 15 minutes. Add ground beef, do not stir, but instead allow the ground beef to form a cooked crust on bottom of pot (you may need to slightly raise the flame to do this). Once a crust has formed, stir and cook until crumbly. Add stewed tomatoes while breaking them up with fingers. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste, stirring well. Add sweet basil, oregano, salt, pepper and 2 Tb. of the sugar (cranberry sauce can be substituted for the sugar). Simmer uncovered for 1 hour, stirring frequently. Taste for flavor. If sauce is still too tart add remaining sugar and adjust salt and pepper if necessary. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

* If using fresh basil (which I highly recommend), use three times more than the recipe calls for, since dried herbs are very concentrated flavor.