re: True Italian Spaghetti Sauce

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puffulufogous

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This is my exact same method, except I never thought to add green olives. I’ll try that next time.

I do plenty of tasting and seasoning all the way, though I’m sure you do too. Just wanted to state that for the OP. Garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, pepper, etc.

Also OP - cook your pasta al dente then simmer your sauce and your pasta together with a little pasta water. This is how you get the sauce to stick to the pasta. Dumping sauce on plain noodles on a plate will just cause it to slide off of the slippery noodles.

This goes for all types of pasta.

Gravy has some sort of protein in it. Sauce does not. My great grandmother/grandmother and mother made gravy for past and sauce for eggplant parm/veal parm/friend eggplant /calamari.


Sicilian Style
Gravy can have any protein, but traditionally it’s pork , l’anise (Italian sausage) and meatballs. Brown the sausage and pork. Drain grease. Add fine chopped onions, 3 anchovy fillets and a little olive oil. When caramalized , add paste. Fry paste for 20 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes. Add equal amount of water or stock as paste and tomatoes. Cool down until volume reduces by half. Add chopped garlic, basil and a little oregano. Not too much oregano or the sauce gets acidic. Add a little sugar to taste , along with salt and fresh black pepper. Fresh basil makes a huge difference in the flavor. I strongly recommend.


Sauce

Boil toes of garlic and reserve water. Remove toes when Tender and add paste and crushed tomatoes. Reduce by 1/3. Add garlic after smashing it and a ton of chopped basil. A little sugar , salt and pepper. This sauce is much more delicate and the tomato should be enhanced by everything , not over powered by any of them. Again, this sauce is to show off your eggplant , calamari , etc so you want it light and delicate, not heavy like gravy.


Pink sauce

Mix half gravy and half heavy cream. Adjust based upon taste. Add more basil. Use this for stuffed pasta like large shells, ravioli, cannelloni , etc and fried pork /veal. This sauce is a show stopper and one that I serve with him made stuffed pasta to show off a bit. It’s rich and decadent.

I haven't seen anybody mention it probably already was but make sure you are using San Marzanos when you make sauce. You should also use a little of the red wine you plan on drinking.

When you serve the dish, add the pasta to another heating pan, toss in the pasta and sauce and make sure you toss it with your salted pasta water so the pasta soaks up the sauce.

Consider mincing some carrot into the sauté stage early and cooking down in the sauce. Will sweeten the tomatoes naturally.

Never pay attention to votes. They are meaningless and have been silly from the start. I suspect they add clicks for money for the site. I could be wrong.

Paywall

I haven't made that recipe but it sounds almost too simple. One day when I'm feeling cheap I'll make it just to try it out.

At the very least I would want to add fresh basil.

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Consider mincing some carrot into the sauté stage early and cooking down in the sauce.

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I don't know why more people don't do this. Not using soffrito in Italian cooking is like not using trinity in a Cajun dish.

Also, I learned the hard way that if you want a smoother sauce, you need to avoid calcium chloride in the tomatoes. Read those cans!

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I don't know why more people don't do this. Not using soffrito in Italian cooking is like not using trinity in a Cajun dish.

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Carrots, celery, onion. Italian trinity. People typically don't think of carrots and celery in a pasta sauce.

I will second LL's Cento recommendation. I know every store in my area that doesn't have the brand and avoid like the plague.