In this article, I’m going to divulge some of my family’s biggest secrets. The secrets of our famous (at least we think so) red sauce. What might surprise you is that there’s really nothing special about it in the ingredients. We stick to simple ingredients. What makes the difference between our family’s sauce recipe and any canned sauce is skill, experience, and fresh ingredients.

All you will need to make the Olindo/Russo family’s famous sauce is:

Minced Garlic

You can buy garlic and mince it yourself or buy it in a jar minced already, either works.

Tomatoes

There are multiple ways you can use tomatoes for your sauce. The quickest way, suitable for most, is to buy high quality crushed tomatoes (canned). However, if you have more time, I highly recommend going to your local farmer’s market, buying some tomatoes, and crushing them yourself.

Salt & Sugar

It’s important to season your sauce with some salt, but you never want to overdo it. The same applies to sugar. You should add sugar to your sauce only if your sauce is acidic.

Meat

Meat isn’t required, but it adds to the great flavor in your sauce, and I mean who doesn’t like meatballs with sauce? Make sure to brown the meat, whether it be meatballs or sausage before you put it in the sauce. Don’t fully cook the meat, as it will cook along with the sauce while simmering (you want to avoid overcooking the meat).

Tomato Paste

Tomato paste, just like salt and sugar, isn’t always required. This is where skill and experience comes in, making this sauce great. Tomato paste acts as a thickening agent in case your sauce is too thin. Don’t add it unless needed.

Note: If you’ve noticed, I haven’t provided any exact measurements, which is for a couple of reasons. One, we go based on what we normally have available, and two, you should be tasting your sauce to see what it needs throughout the process.

Steps:

Get a large pot, put some olive oil in the pot and brown the minced garlic.

Put in the crushed tomatoes

Meanwhile, if you’re adding meat, brown the meat in a separate pan and then place it into the pot along with the sauce.

Let it simmer for around 1 hour.

Once the sauce has simmered for a good amount of time, taste it. See if it needs salt or sugar and be careful to not put too much of either.

Enjoy your amazing sauce and pair it with some pasta or use it in another recipe.

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