Fresh Ingredients
Add some brains, a little bone marrow, a dash of ground skin… oh wait wrong recipe…
Tonight I made spaghetti sauce. I make it quite frequently, as I am often told that I make excellent spaghetti sauce, but tonight was the first time I’ve made it with 99% fresh ingredients (alas, I don’t have fresh mushrooms or green chilies). So for those of you curious on making home-made spaghetti sauce, or those of you curious about some of the ingredients I use… this is for you.
First you take a large pot… very large, you can only make this in massive portions, so be prepared to freeze some or eat a ton of spaghetti for a while. Next, add a liberal dose of olive oil, extra virgin preferred (as in most cases /badpun). Next, add onion, I prefer red but it’s your choice, fresh garlic (always fresh garlic, I only use powdered garlic for specific things, or to top off taste if I don’t feel it has enough towards the end). Turn the burner on so that you brown the onion and garlic a bit before adding the meat. I prefer ground sausage, though hamburger is alright too if you aren’t a fan of the pig. Tonight I used turkey sausage for a change of pace. The amount you use is up to you, I prefer a good amount of meat in my sauce, so I’ll use anywhere from 1.5 - 2 pounds of meat. Add some seasonings to the meat (I use some cumin, black pepper, a tiny dash of salt, and some cajun seasoning for zing), and you’re ready to brown it.
While the meat is thoroughly browning (it should be completely cooked before you add anything else) you can gather up the rest of the ingredients and begin ze choppin’! The main ingredient in sauce is always tomato, obviously, so if you’re going to use canned I recommend at least one big can of crushed (I use two when I’m making a lot), with one or two of diced to add some chunk to it. Also, a can of tomato paste to thicken it up a bit can never hurt. Tonight I was using fresh tomatoes out of my garden though, so I spent a good while dicing and crushing them. The first thing I did is took a moderate bowl full of cherry tomatoes and crushed those bastards to death with a potato masher. Probably not the best tool for it, but it worked. Then I diced up quite a number of tomatoes, somewhere between 8 and 10 (for those of you who don’t know, most of our tomatoes grow to be larger than my fist, some twice as big, so that’s a lot…). There’s all the tomatoes. The meat wasn’t quite done at this point, so I started the next step: the extra.
This is the part that I love, because it changes every time I make sauce. I always add something else to change the taste up a bit, peppers, corn, whatever. Today I was using peppers from our garden. I cut up a few sweet banana peppers, and two yellow bell peppers (well, one was green because it fell off the vine before it ripened all the way, but whatever). I diced all this up and mixed it into the tomatoes, and then the meat was done. I dumped a can of mushrooms (juice too!) in, as well as a can of green chilies. The green chilies are extremely important. Why? Because they add more kick to sauce than any spice I’ve used to date (without making it inedible from spiciness). ALWAYS add a can of green chilies. After I mix this up I dump in the veggies, which have been sitting patiently waiting to meet their demise in the pot (because dicing them wasn’t enough). Once this is all in I stop and think “does it need anything else before I add spices?” This is a crucial point, because I want to make sure I’ve added every large ingredient that I want in there before I spice it all, making sure it’s all balanced properly. Tonight, I decided that was enough, so I started with the spices. The first of which, is vodka.
“Excuse me Mr. Alcoholic, vodka is not a spice,” you are assuredly screaming at me right now. Relax. Despite the fact that it is odorless and tasteless, vodka adds a certain kick to the sauce that I’ve found is missing without it (dur) and I can never place my finger on. So a liberal dash of vodka is added (usually about a shot worth). And don’t worry, all the alcohol burns out, so you’re not going to get your kiddies hammered at Sunday dinner with this. Next I use a trick Brandon taught me and add some sugar. Sugar doesn’t change the flavor much (unless you add too much) and cuts the acidity of the tomatoes, so that they don’t overpower the sauce. The amount you add should be proportionate to the amount of tomatoes, I usually add about 2 teaspoons. Add some thyme, rosemary, oregano, sweet basil (always sweet basil - another thing I picked up from Brandon), paprika, black pepper, a tiny bit of salt (never overuse salt, it’s the most overused “spice” and I think most people ruin their food because of it), crushed red pepper, some chili powder if you like it spicier, and finally some sage if you like. All of these spices are eyed, I never measure. So if you feel uncomfortable just tossing spices in willy-nilly (yes, I just wanted to say that), use a teaspoon to add them, 1 or 2 per spice. You can always taste it and add more later if you like… and I’ll tell you I use black pepper more than any other spice. All set? Good, onward!
Now you’re at the cooking stage. The best sauce I’ve made simmered for almost 8 hours before we ate it. I usually don’t plan that far a head, so I usually cook it for 2 hours or so before consumption. On a medium-low temp. this seems to cook it well. Always let it cook for about 45 minutes to an hour before tasting, so that all the flavors are given plenty of time to blend. And always taste it. You never know if it needs something else, almost nothing comes out perfect without a little editing. Tonight when I tasted it the sauce seemed a bit bland, probably due to it being extremely watery from the fresh tomatoes, so I added a can of paste to thicken it, and double all of my previously added spices. This did the trick, so I set it to cook some more, and about 15 minutes later tasted it again, perfect, almost.
Sauce is very temperamental. You have to have just the right blend, or it will be too strong, or too bland. It’s best to ere on the side of caution than over-spice, because you can always add more. So I pondered for a bit what the sauce was missing, invited my parents to have a taste, get their opinions, and figured it out. More salt. Which wasn’t surprising. So I added a dash or two more, and now it’s perfect.
The amount of time your sauce cooks is up to you. I like to cook it over low temperature for a long time, I feel it heats it and distributes the flavors without ruining any of them, making it a very subtle blend. If you cook it too fast, you ruin it because you lose all the subtle flavors in the mad rush to get it hot. So the slower the better.
Remember, the spices you add are entirely up to you, though I’ll tell you that if you want to make it similar to mine, the most important ones are black pepper, vodka, sweet basil, and rosemary. Also, I always add cumin to the meat I use while it’s browning. Besides those 5 spices, I vary it a bit each time, and you should too. Always experiment. And never use the same ingredients each time, outside of tomatoes of course. Try it with beans and corn one day (remember it’s only chili if you call it chili) or peppers and onions. Or maybe you want it to be a meat sauce, so add another pound of meat. It’s up to you!
I hope you enjoy it however you make it.
~Ian
