Mamas Italian Pasta Sauce Recipes

MAMA PALOMBA'S SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat tomato puree in a large pot over medium-low heat; simmer while prepared the remaining ingredients.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir hot Italian sausage, mild Italian sausage, and ground chuck until browned and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove cooked sausage and chuck with a slotted spoon and transfer to the simmering tomato puree.
• Cook and stir onion and garlic in the same skillet used for browning meat until onions are lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to meat mixture.
• Stir water and tomato paste in the same skillet used for onion mixture over low heat until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes; add to the sauce in the pot. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, and parsley over the sauce; stir to combine. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours.

MY MOTHER'S MARINARA SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, the garlic, red pepper flakes, and sugar and season with salt, to taste. Stir in the carrots and reseason with salt. Cook for about 2 minutes, and then add canned tomatoes. Use a wooden spoon to break up some of the whole tomatoes and cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, about 20 minutes. If at any point the veggies or the sauce is getting dry, add some water. Continue cooking another 10 minutes, and then taste for seasoning. The tomatoes should be fairly broken down and the flavors coming together. Cook an additional 10 minutes. The sauce cooks about as long as it takes to make the meatballs from start to finish, about 45 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves and season with Parmesan.

MAMA MAURO'S RED SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Score the top of each tomato with a ¿T.¿ Drop the tomatoes in the water for 2 minutes, then remove with tongs and let cool. Once cool, peel off the skins and squish out most of the seeds of the tomatoes; you can use plastic gloves to handle the tomatoes during this process. (If you like you can freeze the tomatoes at this point and continue making the sauce at another time.)
• Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden around the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning and oregano and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits from the bottom.
• Add the tomatoes and bay leaf and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until the sauce is thickened and deep red, 50 to 60 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a bit of sugar if it is too acidic. Discard the bay leaf. Add the basil when ready serve.

MAMA'S SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven, melt the butter with the olive oil, add the garlic and onion, and saute until onion is soft/translucent.
• Add the ground sirloin and Italian sausage and cook until no longer pink.
• Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding the bay leaves last so as not to break them up during stirring. Adjust the seasonings as needed to suit your taste.
• Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn heat down to the lowest possible heat and let simmer for 2 hours covered with an offset lid.
• Serve with cooked spaghetti and parmesan cheese.

MAMA LEONE'S ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE (GOOD FOR MANY USES)

Steps:

• Put all ingredients (except the meat and onions) in a large pot.
• Stir well and bring to a boil. Continue to stir occasionally until it boils, so the cinnamon is incorporated.
• Reduce to a simmer and cook for three to four hours. Continue to stir occasionally. You can speed up this step, if you leave it on a boil, but I think the flavour improves if it is not rushed.
• The sauce needs to cook until it bloops-namely until the sauce splashes out of the pot and makes a bit of a mess on the stove top (or wall in my case).
• Remove and discard the chillies and bay leaves.
• What to do next if you intend to serve this sauce over pasta. Saute the beef until it loses most of its pink colouring, then add the onions and saute until tender.
• Drain off any fat.
• Add meat mixture to cooked sauce and stir well.
• Heat the mixture well, then ladle over pasta.

MARIA'S TOMATO-BASIL SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Puree tomatoes in a food processor until smooth; strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
• Heat olive oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat. Stir strained tomatoes, onion, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, and red wine together in the pot with the oil; season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer until thickened, about 25 minutes.