Donna Marie Red Sauce

The original east coast Italian Red Gravy....our first recipe came from dear friends of our family and is thus named. You gotta have a good tomato sauce--it's foundational for true pasta lovers! Serve it with spaghetti, add meatballs, use it in baked ziti or lasagna. The possibilities are endless.

Saute a few cloves of garlic and a sweet onion in enough olive oil to cover bottom of pot.

Brown Italian sausage (italian turkey sausage will work too)--sweet or mild unless you like it hot--and ground beef, any combination up to 2 pounds. If you do homemade meatballs add them after the sauce has cooked for the first hour. Sometimes I make it lighter with just a pound of meat. Good results can also be obtained omitting the meat and making a vegetarian sauce.

Add:
3 large cans (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes
3 large cans (28 ounce size) tomato puree
Put one or two shredded carrots in sauce to sweeten--I usually saute this with the garlic and onion instead. Jim & Kat add a little diced celery to the saute mix. Make it your own, baby!

Add spices to taste- basil, parsley, a PINCH of oregano, salt and pepper.
NOW the fun part - add 1/2 cup of red wine or more if you like. Probably wouldn't hurt to pour a glass for the chef too!

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours - careful not to scorch.

Additional notes: I often make this with only 4 cans total of tomatoes. You can use just about any combination of tomatoes in a pinch, although the sauce consistency will vary according to the type used. Also, the type of wine used in the sauce will bring subtle differences in flavor from batch to batch. I still fondly remember a batch of sauce we made with a fabulous Pinot Noir!