Traditional Red Sauce

Olive oil

1 large white onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 stick salted butter

5 cans (28 ounce each) San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes (these tomatoes are from Italy, if you use a different brand, it will taste different. Usually found in the Italian section where you find Italian pasta)

2 Tbls pepper

2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 cup red wine

In a large pot add olive oil to cover the bottom and add onions and garlic.  Cook on real low heat until soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic. That is why you cook it on slow.  If you tend to cook with the heat high, add onions and cook until soft, then add garlic at the end for 30 seconds.  

Burned garlic will ruin your sauce.

Next add butter to melt.

Then add cans of tomato and all the seasonings.  

Use an immersion blender and blend up the tomatoes and onion so there isn't anymore chunks.

Add the wine.

Cook in the pot for at least 2 hours or 2 1/2 hours. 

Stir every 15 minutes on simmer.  

You will see the sauce start to thicken and darken in color.

PRINTABLE RECIPE  

Quick Red Sauce

Olive oil

1/2 yellow onion diced fine

3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

1/2 TBLS black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 tsp dried thyme

28 ounces can whole peeled San Marzano tomato (tomatoes make a difference in taste)

1/4 cup red wine. medium sweet

1 large sprig of fresh basil. put it in at the beginning of cooking. 

Put the olive oil is a medium sized pot and add onions and garlic. Have the heat on low, very low. Don't rush this part. You don't want to burn the garlic or brown the onions. You want the onions and garlic to very slowly cook in the olive oil. around a good 20-30 minutes. If you are rushed for time, just add the onions and cook until soft, then add in the garlic for a couple of minuted on low. DON'T BURN the garlic. 

add all the seasonings and cook 1-2 minutes. 

Add the can of tomatoes and stir it around.

Add the wine. 

I like to mash and break up the tomatoes. 

I also prefer to blend the red sauce with an emersion blender, but if you don't have that, just mash it up.

Simmer on low for 30 minutes stirring every 10-15 minutes. 

You can cook it longer if you want. I cooked mine another 15 minutes. 

You can add it to pasta like this or add 1/4 lbs of cooked italian sausage. 

You also can add a large sprig of fresh basil if you have it while it is cooking. it adds sooo much flavor. 

If you can find crushed you can use that and avoid using the emersion blender. But I have a hard time finding crushed.

Easy to freeze. I put 32 ounces in 4 Tupperware. Leave space at top for it to expand. 

Chicken and Hot Italian Sausage Cannelloni

I like to add red sauce on the bottom of the pan, then put the cannoli's on top. Then add Alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese on top.  

4 Tbls butter

1 medium white onion, diced

16 ounces ground chicken

8 ounces hot Italian sausage, ground

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

4 ounces goat cheese

2 tsp dried basil

1 box no boil barilla noodles

In a frying pan, melt butter and add onions.  Cook until soft.

Add in ground chicken and Italian sausage. 

Cook until browned. DRAIN and cool.

Once the meat mixture has cooled, add the 3 cheeses and dried basil. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. 

Put in one noodle and boil for 1 minute 30 seconds, remove from water and spread a layer of the meat/cheese layer on one noodle and roll up. Repeat until you have used up all the noodles and meat.  

You can freeze these the way they are now. Or add pasta sauce to the bottom of a pan and lay the cannelloni on top. Add mozzarella on top and bake until brown and bubbly. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

 These are the noodles to look for. I couldn't find the ones that are not oven ready. But you want these because of the size, they roll up to look like a cannelloni shell.

 This is the meat and cheese mixture.

 This is what it looks like after it has been rolled. 

This is how much meat/cheese mixture to put on.