Spaghetti Sauce from Scratch

A couple of weeks ago we were getting ready to go on vacation and I realized that I had a plethora of garden tomatoes that would go bad while we were gone unless I did something with them. I decided to try making my own spaghetti sauce. I had never done that before, but it seemed easy enough. I started with this recipe from Food.com (formerly Recipezaar), and this is what I came up with.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

8-10 medium-sized tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 green onions, chopped

8 oz. mushrooms, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried basil

1 tsp Italian Seasoning (I use Penzey's Tuscan Sunset)

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 tsp sugar

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 cups water

Directions:

Place tomatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place tomatoes in an ice water bath to cool.

Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add onion, green onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add oregano, basil, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Peel the skin off the tomatoes and cut into quarters removing the top stem area and all of the seeds. Add to pot and mash with potato masher. (If you like your sauce with no chunks at all, put tomatoes in a blender or food processor before adding to pot.) Stir tomatoes into pot and add water. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Let simmer for approximately 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Use immediately over hot spaghetti or in lasagna. Or let it cool, then freeze for later use.

Makes 4 cups.

I didn't change a whole lot about the recipe I started with. It called for peppers, which I left out of course. I like how it called for green onions; it gave the sauce pretty little bits of green without the peppers. It also called for pizza seasoning, which I didn't have. I didn't have mushrooms on hand when I made this, but I would definitely add them the next time I make it.


Since we were leaving for vacation, I froze mine. It fit perfectly into two 2-cup containers. Can't wait to try it!

Here it is served over spaghetti with meatballs. Yummy!