What’s Will B. Cooking?

Some call it sauce and some call it gravy, some buy it in a jar or can and others have this recipe passed down from generation to generation. Spaghetti sauce is what’s for dinner this time along with angel hair pasta. Angel hair is my favorite pasta and I could swear it tastes different somehow than the regular spaghetti. The texture is most definitely different. I use dried pasta although I have made it fresh from time to time. For the best cooked pasta, bring water to a boil, drop in pasta, add olive oil and about 3 tablespoons of salt. Boil on med/high for 8 minutes and promptly strain and add to the sauce.

This recipe has a co-author, my wife. She started making this sauce from a recipe that we have added to and changed over the years. It is now our first-generation family secret sauce. Although it won’t be much of a secret after you read this. It is very simple to make so I hope you give it a try.

Place a medium pot on stove and heat it on medium. Add 1 small to medium size onion (finely diced) and a pinch of salt. Sauté till onions are translucent, then add a quarter cup of olive oil. Next add to pot 1 finely diced bell pepper, 1 finely diced jalapeno (deseeded), 4 to 5 roughly chopped mushrooms (you may add more of the jalapeno and mushrooms depending on your like) and 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. I use minced garlic you will generally find in most grocers. Sauté till garlic browns. Tip: When sautéing onions and garlic they will turn sweet as you brown them. Next add in 1 large can of Hunts tomato puree and 1 large can of Hunts crushed tomatoes. Turn burner on low and let simmer for at least 1 to 2 hours. I generally cook for 2 hours depending on if I have added any meat to the sauce. As the sauce cooks it will reduce, as the sauce reduce the flavor will intensify.

This is a basic sauce to go with most pastas. I generally modify the sauce depending on what meats we are in the mood for or what the sauce is going on. If making eggplant parmesan I try to make the sauce a little spicier. If adding Italian sausage then a bit less spicy. In most cases, I do like to add Opa’s German sausage that I purchase at Stewarts Grocery store in the meat section. Also, I am very fond of the premade garlic bread sold at Stewarts. It is found on the bread aisle in a silver package. A secret I like to do is to add a little kosher salt and garlic powder to the store-bought garlic bread. Takes it to the next level and I recommend cooking the garlic bread on the convection setting in your oven if you have one with that feature. It always makes the garlic bread very crispy on the outside and leaves the inside fluffy