My Dad’s Spaghetti Sauce

Cold weather always makes me crave comfort food.  In my mind, nothing is more comforting than the recipes I grew up eating.  This week I’m going to be featuring a few of my favorite family recipes.  They are delicious and might just become some of your family favorites too!The first is my dad’s spaghetti sauce.  This sauce simmers all day which creates an rich and deep flavor.  It’s a recipe that I made my dad write it down for me when I was in college and I now pass it along every time I make a cookbook for a friend.  The ingredients are simple but the finished product is far from ordinary.  I decided to serve this for our annual New Year’s Eve dinner with friends.  We’ve spent the last 3 years celebrating together and good food is always the focus of our events.  This spaghetti sauce is hearty and is filled with sausage, beef and pepperoni.

You start with a cup each of onion, green pepper and celery.  I diced all 3, then cooked them in a large stock pot in 2 Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.  I then added 2 cans (28 oz) of crushed tomatoes.  You can used diced as well but I prefer the consistency of crushed tomatoes.

At this point I decided I couldn’t handle a chunky sauce so I used my emersion blender to create a smooth, less chunky sauce.  Yes, I realize that all my consistency issues with food are a little bizarre but that’s the beauty of cooking!  You get to make things just the way you like them.

I then added 2 cans (28 oz) of tomato sauce. Stir in 1/4 cup italian seasonings and 1 cup pepperoni. For this batch,  I cut the pepperoni in quarters and felt that they were the perfect size for this sauce.

As that simmers on the stove, in a skillet brown 2 lbs ground beef and 1 lb breakfast sausge.  Drain the fat and add this to the sauce.  Let sauce simmer over low heat for 4-6 hours.  You can even make this a head of time, refrigerate overnight and then reheat when ready to serve.  The longer that you have to let the flavors meld the better.

My dad always served this with bow tie pasta.  It’s the perfect shape for this sauce.  I found mini bow ties and I loved the size of them for this dish.  Sprinkle pasta and sauce with grated Parmesan cheese.  Serve with french bread and salad.

The leftovers can easily be frozen for a rainy day.  This sauce will easily feed 15-18 people so it’s great for entertaining.  What’s your favorite family recipe?