Tomato Sauce - not all from scratch

Everybody loves Italian and I am one of those individuals that truly does love to make Italian. Making a great tomato sauce is rather important especially if you incorporate that sauce into some dish. Sometimes though, I don't want to go all out and get all the fresh ingredients that are required when making it.

2 tbsp basil, chopped                      2 tbsp oregano, chopped
4 tbsp minced garlic                        1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped                2 cans of tomato sauce
4 small cans of tomato sauce           2 cups white wine
1 tsp olive oil                                  salt and pepper to taste


When working with fresh veggies, I love to roast them. Toss the veggies with olive oil, salt and some pepper. Place them in a baking dish as the juices will drip down. Make sure the oven is in broil. This allows the veggies to broil and cook faster. Once you have roasted for at least 10 minutes, take the baking dish out and let cool for about 4 minutes.

While that is roasting, add oil to a large pot. Add the tomato sauce, white wine and small cans. Add salt and pepper to taste. After I have roasted the veggies, I puree the veggies. I add the puree to the tomato sauce into the pot. First, start to cook it to a boil stirring occasionally. Bring it down to a simmer continuing to stir for 4 hours. Taste to check if it may need additional salt or pepper. You will notice that it will get thick.

For today, I am making a baked penne with the tomato sauce that I made. It has seasoned meat (beef and italian pork sausage mixture) that has been cooked. Great with a side salad and some bread.