Quote Originally Posted by WiccanLiberal View Post
My mother was not a great cook but her sauce recipe was wonderful. She was shown by a fellow Navy wife when she and my dad lived in Norfolk. That lady was the daughter of an Italian immigrant. So the recipe goes like this.


Brown app. 1 pound of 70/30 ground beef with a small chopped onion and a clove or two of minced garlic. In a large pot put a pound of peeled plum tomatoes. ( I have no problem with canned or fresh ). Add 4 small cans of tomato paste. Measure out the same amount of liquid. I usually use about two and a half cans water and a half red wine. I can always add more liquid later. To this I add salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsley. Vary the amounts to get the flavor you like. Mom always crushed the tomatoes by hand but I put the whole mess in the blender and just pulse it a few times. Drain the ground beef, onion and garlic and add it to the tomato mix. Then simmer on low for about an hour. Then taste it. Depending on the tomatoes you may need to add a little sugar to sweeten but only do so a very little at a time to your taste. Then just simmer for a few hours and stir periodically. You can use a slow cooker. Variations include adding green pepper, mushrooms, etc. Leave out the meat for a sauce for chicken parm. Add sausage for a great lasagna sauce. I generally make a large pot and freeze seperate containers for quick meals.
That sounds a lot like what my mom made too! Like your's, my mom wasn't a great cook, Irish. But her spaghetti sauce rocked, got it from a sister of my aunt's husband, an Italian.