Fight Feature Creep Recipe: Red Sauce

After a few weeks in the new DUMBO apt, I’m finally settled enough to start doing some cooking.  This is another recipe that I’ve tended to overcomplicate in the past, adding things like oregano, paprika, cumin, zucchini, carrots, or other silly stuff.

After deviating way too far from the flavor I remembered from my childhood, I called my Grandma with a notebook in hand and have been adhering to the recipe strictly.  The result is a better red sauce than any I’ve tasted (other than my Grandma’s).

Cathy Belli’s Red Sauce (Best Red Sauce Ever)

** Cook sauce in a stainless steel, not teflon, pan.  This seems to remove bitterness / acidity from tomatoes.

Mince 1 medium onion (tennis ball size).
Cover bottom of pan with extra virgin olive oil.
Saute onions with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes in olive oil until golden.

Add 2 cloves sliced in half garlic.
Saute 2-3 minutes (make sure garlic stays white, not brown).

Add 1 28oz Hunts whole peeled tomatoes.
- If you use real tomatoes (about 10-12 plum tomatoes suggested), roast them in the oven first, then peel off the skins before adding to onions.
Cook for 1 hour on low heat (simmer, not boil).

Add basil and 1/4 cup white wine (add 1/4 tsp sugar if nec.).
Cook 1/2 hour.

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