Authentic Italian Spaghetti Sauce

Submitted by Gingerbear

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 8 large fresh tomatoes, diced into small pieces
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 8 cloves fresh garlic, chopped or minced
• 3⁄4 cup fresh basil, minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

directions

1. To cook sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large iron skillet or heavy saucepan.
2. Add garlic and cook until tender.
3. Add fresh tomatoes and cook until heated through.
4. Stir in basil, crushed red pepper, black pepper and salt.
5. Serve sauce over cooked spaghetti or other italian pasta and top with parmesan cheese.

Reviews

[evelync]

You will never use canned tomato sauce again after trying this sauce.This is how the italians make it and it is exceptional.I make this all summer and as far into the fall as I can find decent tomatoes.I highly recommend you use roma or italian tomatoes and discard the seeds as they are bitter.

 

[939275]

I've been making this recipe for about a year now and here are the tweaks I've made to it based on how other people I know make authentic italian sauce, but using this recipe as the main "framework": *instead of 8 regular tomatoes I use 12 roma tomatoes *instead of all black pepper I use 1/2 black pepper and the other 1/2 of white pepper *instead of fresh basil I use a tbsp dried basil *instead of fresh garlic 1 1/2 tbsp instant dried garlic *added a pinch of marjoram and a pinch of oregano *no crushed pepper flakes *cook on low 2 hours, stirring every 10 minutes so it doesn't burn. Usually 15-30 minutes on high at the end to thicken it up and get rid of most of the liquid. I find that with these changes the flavors are more intense and have more dimensions although it is still a light tasting sauce, but if you want to feel more authentic as a cook you could stick to all fresh ingredients although the flavor is different somehow when the garlic and basil are fresh. To serve I put it over spagetti noodles or over little circles of bread for bruschetta. I put fresh parmesan on top which I find is very important to the flavor. Mix it in well and then add a little more on top. It comes out very thick and hearty even though there is no meat and even the men in my family love it which is a surprise because they don't like pasta and have to have meat at every meal (not with this dish!). Once I made these changes there are never leftovers and everyone gets seconds or thirds so I have to use a HUGE pot to make enough. This is enough for about 4 servings (calculate 3 tomatoes a person when buying them, more if they will have more than 1 serving)

 

[Renegade Chef]

This is a staple! I probably serve this 2-3 times a month. If I don't have fresh tomatoes on hand I use 2 cans of diced tomatoes. If no fresh basil is around, I use about a tablespoon dried basil. Mushrooms are great in this sauce, and I like topping it with a little grated Parmesan. I use this sauce with a number of recipes, including Eggplant Parmesan--it's the best. Everybody always raves about it.

 

[chessa22]

This is such a quick and easy sauce recipe that allows for me to be able to enjoy my tomatoes all year long! I ended up keeping it on med for 1 hour and low for 2 hours and it came out thick and hearty! :o)

 

[redski]

Have a good day Ragu...<br/>Cya