Marinara Red Sauce (great for freezing!) – Deals to Meals
4 lb. ground Italian sausage (spicy is optional)
1 8 oz. pkg. mushrooms, sliced
3 large fresh garlic cloves
1/3 c. salt (or more depending on taste)
1 T. pepper
Red pepper flakes (optional—to taste)
1 1/2 lb. mini carrots finely blended/diced
3 medium white onions/diced
1 tbsp. olive oil
5 T. basil (Add at the end of the cooking process to retain it’s flavor)
2 T. sugar
30 cans of stewed tomatoes (15oz.), with juices (whole) or frozen/fresh tomatoes from your garden-if they are fresh, add a little more sugar and salt to balance the acidic flavor. If you use only fresh tomatoes you will need anywhere from 40-50 tomatoes (depending on their size).
4 cans tomato paste for thickening
Use food processor to dice carrots, onions and celery (and any other vegetables) into small chunks. Sauté all above ingredients (carrots, onions, celery, sausage, mushrooms & spices) in large saucepan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add tomatoes including juice from can. For a smooth red sauce, puree all tomatoes and ingredients together in blender (or use blender/wand– they work great!). Or, for meatier sauce, puree tomatoes only, and leave other ingredients in chunks. Allow sauce to simmer 2-5 hours on low with out the lid, sauce should reduce about one third. Add basil right before serving. Taste to make sure sauce does not need any more salt, sugar or seasoning. Simmer on stove or in roaster pan until thick. Let sauce cool and then freeze sauce in Tupperware’s or freezer bags for later meals.
