On Apr 9, 7:10*pm, "Julie Bove" > wrote:
> Back in the day I always made my own sauce. *I used recipes. *Sometimes even
> weird ones. *One involved just regular plain fresh tomatoes and milk. *It
> came from a very old cookbook. *My Italian husband loved it! *Most of my
> sauces were cooked for several hours if all day. *In those days there was
> usually no meat. *But my husband is a meat lover. *So if I am cooking for
> him I will often add meat.
>
> Tonight I am making a quick sauce. *I am using some organic canned tomato
> sauce from Costco that really should have been used by April 1st. *Shhh....
> Don't tell my daughter! *I saw a teensy bit of rust forming at the edges of
> the cans but the product wasn't affected.
>
> To help thicken the sauce I added some freeze dried chopped onions and red
> peppers. *I learned to do this on my own. *This will also add extra veggies.
> If I had any zucchini or summer squash, I would had finely shredded those in
> just for the extra veggies. *Powdered dried mushrooms also work well to
> thicken. *I like the kind they used to sell at Costco in a large jar. *Not
> sure they still do. *But I didn't have any. *Had I had some fresh mushrooms
> I would have shredded those in as well. *I figure any extra veggies I can
> get in there without anyone noticing is good! *I did shred a few baby
> carrots in there. *I got this tip from Mitch at the hot dog place that used
> to be in Lynnwood, called Mitch's. *I don't like hot dogs so he used to make
> me spaghetti. *The sauce tasted nicely sweet and he said this was because of
> the added shredded carrot. *I did get into an argument with an Italian lady
> a few weeks ago about this. *She said she can't stand it when people do
> that. **shrug*
>
> I also added a squirt of lemon juice to help make it sweeter. *My mom always
> did this as did my MIL who is Italian. *I think it is something common to do
> for people of their age. *I don't think I've ever seen a recipe that calls
> for it although I have looked it up on the Internet and people do it. *I
> also added a pinch of cinnamon. *I read somewhere that is done in the North
> of Italy. *Seems to add sweetness as well. *And I will add a splash of the
> cooking water to help thicken it. *I learned this from various TV chefs such
> as Lidia Bastianich, Marianne Esposito and Nick Stellino.
>
> The other seasonings I used tonight were mostly oregano, a bit of rosemary,
> a bit of garlic, salt and pepper. *My husband and daughter like it heavy on
> the garlic but I do not. *I can tolerate a bit of garlic but any more seems
> to mess with my stomach.
>
> So do you have any secret things you add to your sauce when you make it from
> scratch? *Ooh! *There's my timer. *Must go check my pasta. *Am using whole
> wheat stuff from Whole Foods. *The twisted kind. *Can't remember the name.

Parsley, and lots of it. I usually add a whole bunch of Italian
parsley with stems tied with kitchen string- fish them out when done
cooking.