Veronica's Homemade Italian Pasta Sauce

Trixyinaz's Note:

This is my mom's recipe, which I am sure is my Nani's recipe straight from Italy. There is nothing like a truly homemade Italian pasta sauce. This sauce isn't a real thick sauce so if you want thick, you might not want to add any water to the recipe. It's packed with flavor and feeds a ton! Even tastes better the next day and the day after that...

• Total Time: 5 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 48

Yield: 6.0 quarts

SAUCE

• 3 (29 ounce) cans tomato puree
• 8 cups water (may vary depending upon thickness of Puree)
• 3 tablespoons ground fennel
• 3 tablespoons basil
• 3 tablespoons oregano
• 3 tablespoons pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 -6 fresh basil leaves (if you have it)
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (use less if you don't want it hot or more if you like a hot sauce)

MEATBALLS TO BE USED IN THE SAUCE

• 1 lb ground chicken or 1 lb turkey
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cloves diced garlic
• 2 cups parmesan cheese (may need to add more if meat is real WET)
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (may need to add more if meat is real WET)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 teaspoons basil
• 2 teaspoons parsley

SAUSAGE TO BE USED IN SAUCE

• 1 lb mild med or hot Italian sausage

PORK TO BE USED IN SAUCE

• 1 lb country-style boneless pork ribs

Directions:

1. *IFYOU CANNOT FIND TOMATO PUREE, YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE IT WITH 2 CANS TOMATO SAUCE AND 1 CAN TOMATO PASTE**IF YOU SUBSTITUE THE PUREE FOR THE SAUCE AND PASTE, YOU WILL ONLY NEED TO ADD HALF THE WATER LISTED ABOVE~*~*~STEP ONE: Sauce~*~*~.
2. In a large cooking pot (8 or 10 quart pot) combine the tomato puree, water and spices and cook over low heat until you are done with Step Two.
3. ~*~*~STEPTWO: Meatballs, Sausage and Pork~*~*~.
4. Place the ground turkey or chicken in a large mixing bowl.
5. Add the two eggs, spices, cheese and bread crumbs.
6. Mix together very well and form into meatballs.
7. In a large nonstick skillet, heat up a small amount of cooking oil (I use about a tablespoon of olive oil) over med heat.
8. Fry the meatballs, sausage links and pork ribs together just until they are brown all over (you won't be able to fit all the meat in the skillet so you'll have to fry them up in batches but make sure each batch contains a little of each meat so that the flavors are mixed together).
9. Add the semi-cooked meat and juices to the sauce, increase heat to medium and bring to a boil.
10. Reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer for 4 hours.
11. Stir every 10 to 15 minutes to avoid burning the bottom of the sauce.

Reviews

[CassandraLynne11]

This sauce was absolutely wonderful! I made alot of alterations based on my family's tastes (less pepper, more garlic) and omitted the pork. Other than that this sauce was fabulous and I will definitley be making it again. Thanks for posting!