Italian-style Pasta Sauce

If you’re of Italian descent, you’ve probably grown up eating good Italian food, and if not, you’ve most likely gone searching high and low for what every non-Italian’s taste buds crave. Well, search no more, my friends, because I am about to show you how to make a great Italian-style pasta sauce without having to travel any farther than your local supermarket. But before I start, I would like to give a short history of the origins of this sauce and how it came to be such a staple for me.

I am 100% Italian blooded. My father immigrated to the USA from Italy with his family in the mid-195o’s. My mother, although born in the USA, was also of 100% Italian descent. Her father and grandparents had immigrated a generation earlier. If there was one talent both sides brought from the homeland (aside from skilled labor such as masonry and stonework), it was their ability to make great Italian food. Each side of the family had its own way of making pasta sauce, and each was handed down from generation to generation. Each had subtle differences in flavoring as well, with the meats or vegetables in them prepared differently and added at different times. All were very good, and in time I was able to make them on my own, but the original recipes that were taught to me are family secrets - what, you thought I was going to give them away? Sorry, not in this kitchen! So, what I present to now you is my own sauce that follows tradition enough to give you just what you are looking for when you take your taste buds out to that Italian restaurant, but of course, mine is much better!

You are going to need at least 30 minutes to dedicate to prep work. This will include chopping and adding your ingredients, cooking the onions and garlic, and browning the meats of your choice. Oh, you’re a vegetarian, you say? No problem! The meat can be left out to make this a great vegetarian sauce, which we actually use for another dish: eggplant parmesan, which I will get to as we move farther along in Mario’s Kitchen.

Just make sure that you are not going to be too distracted after you start. You don’t want things to burn in the beginning phase because this is where you set the tone of the entire sauce. Burnt vegetables will ruin the overall flavor. If you do accidentally burn onions or garlic in the beginning, it’s better to throw it away and start again, and I should mention before I discourage you any further, that this really isn’t that hard to make. My grandparents were able to do it while taking care of up to 8 kids at a time! So it can be done. Just pay attention. If you have kids and they are old enough to help in the kitchen, have them give you a hand, and pass along your tradition.

Once the prep work is done and the sauce is simmering, it can be left for up to two hours or more with just an occasional stir every 15-20 minutes. This recipe will make enough sauce to serve 4 to 6 people.

Now, let’s get cooking.

You will need:
One 8-quart sauce pan
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 to 5 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1 can of Pastene kitchen-ready tomatoes
1.5lbs sweet Italian sausages (optional)
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt



Make sure to do all of your chopping and mincing before you heat the oil as you don’t want it to burn while you prepare any of the vegetables. I like to chop my onions in half and then make about 8 thinner cuts going with the grain of the onion. I do not break them apart because they do so once they start to cook.



For the garlic, however you want to chop it is fine. Some like to slice the cloves thinly (think the jail scene in Goodfellas) so that they dissolve into the sauce. I like to keep the garlic a little chunky, so I dice it up until it is almost minced, but not quite.



Next, add the ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil to the sauce pan. Place it over medium high heat and as soon as it gets hot, add the onions and garlic, and cover. This is the most crucial part of the whole sauce. You don’t want them to get too hot, yet you want them to cook down to a good caramelized state. I generally turn the heat down to medium and stir them frequently, until they turn nice and translucent. Again, if you burn them – throw it away and start over!



After about 10-15 minutes, add the sausage, then the teaspoon of kosher salt.



You will want to turn the heat back up to medium-high in order to get the sausage cooking nicely. Stir this mixture about every 3 to 5 minutes or until you see the sausages starting to cook. They will turn a light grey color all around. Once they have done so, add the can of Pastene kitchen-ready tomatoes and bring the whole thing to a slight boil.



As soon as the boil happens, turn the heat down to simmer, stir and cover. If you are not adding the meat, about 45 minutes will get you a nice flavorful sauce. However, if you do use it, you will want this to cook for at least one solid hour. When your sauce is ready, it will have turned from the deep reddish color in the picture above to a nice reddish-orange.



In my opinion, the longer you cook it the better. The key is not to let it come to an actual boil. You want it to simmer on low heat. I usually let mine simmer lightly for about two hours. In the meantime, you can decide how you want to utilize it!



Most kinds of pasta noodles will go great with this. If you’re feeling really brave, you can make your own, but that is for another day here in Mario’s Kitchen!

Now, as us Italians say, mangiare!