Zesty spaghetti sauce

8 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
4 tablespoons Olive oil
2 Onions, chopped (one red & one white)
4 Garlic cloves, chopped
3 pounds Fresh or canned red Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup Tomato juice
5 tablespoons Combined fresh herbs: basil, thyme, oregano rosemary, etc.
1½ pounds Hot and sweet Italian sausage
½ cup Red wine vinegar (use balsamic!)
2 tablespoons Tomato paste
1 tablespoon Sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
⅛ teaspoon Cayenne or red pepper
1 tablespoon Fennel seeds

Directions

Heat the olive oil in heavy, large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Cut up the tomatoes roughly and add to the pot. Add half of the juice from the cans, along with the fennel seeds and 2 tbs of the herbs. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Fry the sausage (after taking it out of the casings, if it has them) in a separate pan, drain off fat and add to the sauce. Taste the sauce and add the remainder of the juice, vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, salt and peppers as necessary to have a rich flavor.

Move lid to half cover, and simmer over very low hear for ½ hour, stirring occasionally, so that the sauce does not scorch on the bottom of the pan. The sauce may be frozen or refrigerated for several days at this point. Toss the rest of the herbs in just before serving and stir to mix in.

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