Sweet Spaghetti Sauce

I'm fairly certain I have multiple blog posts about spaghetti sauce. This is probably for two reasons.

1. I love spaghetti

2. I love to make spaghetti sauce

It really is such a fun thing to make. I don't think I ever make it the same twice. Today I did a sweet sauce with a dark red wine base. Yum. I also threw in some home grown, home canned green tomatoes to mix things up. Another yum. Here's how we started today.

The first thing I did was brown some sweet Italian sausage. This is just over one pound. It was 6 links. I like to season the sausage with onion and garlic powder, thyme, and marjoram. 

Once it's about half way browned, find a good red wine. This week I used Dark Apothic. Apothic is usually a mix of reds and I kind of like it. I saw this dark brand and had to give it a try.

Pour enough in to cover the bottom of your pan. You can add more, it just takes longer to cook out. 

While you're at it, pour yourself a glass to enjoy while you finish cooking. 

Add onions. I cheat and use frozen chopped onions. I actually think it's much better with fresh onions. They absorb the wine better, but these work in a pinch. 

Let everything cook together until most of the liquid evaporates. Once that happens, add some garlic. You can add this to your liking. I used about three cloves, minced. I also like to let it cook a little, about a minute, before adding anything else. 

Canned, green tomatoes. I must admit, they didn't come from my kitchen. It's good to have friends that garden. I've never used green tomatoes in spaghetti sauce, so this was an experiment.

I drained the jar and dumped it on the meat. 

I was making a large amount of sauce, so I also used a 28oz can of diced, red tomatoes as well.

To top everything off, 6oz tomato paste.

Mix everything up and let it simmer for a while. I like to add about a teaspoon of seasoned salt and two teaspoons of sugar at this point as well. I think the salt cuts the acidity and the sugar adds just a touch more sweetness, which my husband enjoys. 

This is about when I start my water for noodles. I like to let the sauce simmer for a while, so that gives it plenty of time. It's also an excellent time to cut yourself some bread. You can use the bread to test the sauce as your noodles cook. You have been warned though, it's hard to stop once you start...