[This is from adapted from Cook's Illustrated]
Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound hot Italian sausage links
2 medium onions , chopped fine (about 2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano
3 -4 tablespoons tomato paste
4 teaspoons crushed garlic (Trader Joe's is good)
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes (I use Tuttorossi crushed tomatoes with basil from Giant Eagle)
3/4 cup water, beef or vegetable broth.
¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves, optional, or some frozen or jarred pesto to taste.
Meatballs - see
original recipe if you're going to get this fancy!
Pasta
1 ½ pounds spaghetti or linguine
2 tablespoons table salt
Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower- middle position and heat
oven to 325 degrees. Heat oil in large Dutch oven (A Le Creuset or comparable enamel on cast iron pot is ideal) over medium-high heat
until just smoking.
2. Brown sausages on all
sides, 5 to 7 minutes total. Transfer sausages to plate and set aside.
3. Reduce heat to medium, add onions and oregano; cook, stirring
occasionally, until beginning to brown.
4. Add tomato
paste and cook, stirring constantly, until very dark.
5 Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 - 60 seconds.
6. Add crushed
tomatoes and water/broth, scraping up any browned bits.
7. Return
sausage to pot; bring to simmer, cover, and
transfer to oven.
8. Cook until
ribs are tender, about 2½ hours. It's done when dark red oil is on top.
9. Remove sauce from oven and skim fat
from top with large spoon.
10. Meanwhile, bring 6 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and
salt and cook until al dente. Reserve ½ cup cooking water; drain pasta
and transfer back to cooking pot.
TO SERVE: Using tongs, transfer sausage to
serving platter and cut sausages in half.
Stir basil into sauce and
adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Toss pasta with 1 cup sauce and
reserved pasta cooking water so that sauce lightly coats pasta. Serve
pasta, passing remaining sauce and meat platter separately.
Serves 8 to 10. Published September 1, 2009. From Cook's Illustrated. Sunday Gravy
The
sauce can be prepared through step 4 and then cooled and refrigerated in
the Dutch oven for up to 2 days. To reheat, drizzle ½ cup of water over
the sauce (do not stir in) and warm on the lower-middle rack of a
preheated 325-degree oven for 1 hour before proceeding with the recipe.
If you double the recipe, which I recommend for freezing, it may take 3 hours or more to cook.
|
One Recipe |
Double |
Triple |
Quadruple |
| Olive oil |
2 TBLS |
4 |
6 |
8 |
| Sausage |
1 Pound |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| Onions |
2 cups |
4 |
6 |
8 |
| Oregano |
1.25 tsp |
2.5 |
3.75 |
5 |
| Tomato Paste |
3-4 TBLS |
6 |
9 |
12 |
| Garlic |
4 tsp |
8 |
12 |
16 |
| Crushed Tomatoes |
2 x 28-oz cans |
4 |
6 |
8 |
| Water/beef broth |
3/4 cup |
1.5 |
2.25 |
3 |
| Basil, fresh |
1/4 cup |
1/2 cup |
3/4 c |
1 c |
