Here’s my recipe for spaghetti sauce. Before Claudia’s son tasted this, he would only eat Ragu.
1 eggplant
1 green pepper, halved and seeded
3-4 carrots
1 onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh basil or parsley or both
1 large can (28 oz.) tomato sauce
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 large can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
olive oil
Peel the eggplant. Cut off each end, then cut in to slices about 3/4 inch thick. Salt the slices liberally and let sit.
Here is where a food processor comes in handy. I put all the vegetables through the food processor shredder. If you don’t have a food processor, cut them very, very fine.
Shred carrots, green peppers, onion. Chop fresh spices.
By this time, the eggplant should have drops of liquid on its surface. Take a paper towel and soak up this liquid (it’s bitter). Then put the eggplant slices through the shredder as well.
Cover the bottom of a heavy pot with olive oil. Turn up the heat to medium high. Add the shredded vegetables, garlic, spices. Simmer, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the tomato products. Return to simmer, then turn heat down to low. Cook uncovered for as much time as you have — at least a couple hours is best, but I’ve served it in 45 minutes. Adjust for spices. Add a can of tomato paste if it seems too runny.
I sometimes fry up a pound and a half of spicy sausage to add to this sauce an hour into cooking — the kids like it best that way. Once I make this sauce I usually serve it over spaghetti a couple of times, make homemade pizzas with the kids once, and use the remainder in a lasagna. Recipe to come.
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