A Nice Sauce | Cooking Stories | Cooking With My Friends

A Nice Sauce

One of my college roommates used to make tomato sauce out of... tomato sauce. She'd take already-prepared Ragu Homestyle (you know... the one with the corn syrup and other weird ingredients) and add cloves of garlic, oil, sliced sausage and maybe a few green peppers, mushrooms or whatever we had lying around, throw it all in a crockpot and simmer all day until the sausages were done.

Now, I say to you: that's the makings of a hearty meal... but WHY the jars of Ragu??

Take that same recipe, and replace the jarred sauce with a couple big cans of whole tomatoes and maybe a smaller CAN of "tomato sauce," (say, Contadina in the can - all it is is cooked pureed tomato and maybe a little salt added) and you've got a darned tasty meal there. You can even add a few shakes of basil and sprinkle some delicious Locatelli cheese on top. Great homemade taste... no cancer-causing preservatives, no excess sugar for the fat cells to bloat up on.

Here's a nice sauce for you to try:

Cut up two strips of bacon into pieces and fry 'til crispy. Drain away most of the bacon fat, leaving just enough for a lingering smoky flavor. Splash in a bit of olive oil and in 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, sautee that in the remaining bacon grease.

Add two cans of whole tomatoes (chunk them up with your fingers), a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Simmer on low for a half-hour or so. Toss in a handful of pitted calamata olives and continue cooking for about an hour or until it tastes "done." Serve over rigatoni with fresh grated cheese, warm crusty bread, a salad of mesclun greens, fresh parsely, cucumber and shallot shavings doused in balsamic vinaigrette.