Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce

This time last week I was laying in a beach chair, soaking up the sun in 80-degree weather. Today I was sitting in my kitchen, wearing more layers of clothing than I care to admit and staring out the window at a foot of snow…it appears I have been transported from the tropics to the tundra. While my brain seems to be having a hard time adjusting to and accepting this change, my stomach as wasted no time in switching it’s cravings from fresh fruit and cool drinks to carb loaded warm foods and tea.

With my cravings for comfort food in mind, I am proud to present you with one of my favorite recipes of all time…my mom’s LEGENDARY spaghetti sauce. As a warning for those of you who prefer quick to prepare spaghetti sauce of a pretty homogenous consistency, this is not the spaghetti sauce for you. This sauce is full of chunky veggies and takes a little over 2 hours to prepare. You need to trust me though, the sauce is definitely worth the work you put into it. Plus, the recipe below is actually enough for 2 pounds of cooked pasta. I usually use half and freeze the other half so next time I’m craving comfort food, all I have to do is hit the defrost button on the microwave.

What you need:

• 1 large chopped onion
• 1 bundle of chopped parsley
• 2 14 oz cans of olives, sliced
• 1 lb of mushrooms, sliced
• 2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1/3 a bottle of wine (about 1 cup)
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tsp of oregano
• 2 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 lbs of capellini (or 1 lb if you plan to freeze half the sauce)

What you need to do:

1. Sauté the chopped onion in olive oil (enough oil to cover the bottom of the saucepan).
2. In a separate frying pan, sauté the mushrooms in butter (about 1 tbs) and salt.
3. Add the 2 cans of tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, chopped parsley, bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt, and wine to the saucepan.
4. Stir the contents of the saucepan and bring them to a boil.
5. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer the contents for an hour and a half.
6. In the last 10 minutes of cooking down the sauce, cook two lbs of pasta and prepare for a delicious meal (or just cook 1 lb and freeze half of the sauce).
7. Serve the sauce on a bed of pasta and top with parmesan cheese.
8. Enjoy!

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