Homemade Classic Red Sauce(Sicilian Style)

This old school sicilian sauce has depth and flavor unbounded! Once you have this sauce, you'll never go back to canned pasta sauce, trust us:) 

For this batch we did enough for three people but feel free to multiply ingredients to make a larger batch to freeze or to cook a large family meal. Serve this sauce on top of our favorite, bucatini pasta; it's thicker than spaghetti and is hollow which makes it perfect for saucy dishes...But feel free to use your favorite pasta noodles.

Always remember, our recipes are not set in stone....Feel free to add/subract ingredients to suit specific tastes.

Ingredients:

10" piece sweet or hot sausage (out of casing)

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 banana peppers sweet or hot, chopped

6 anchovies

2 tb olive oil

Splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar

Trapani sicilian sea salt, large pinch

1/2 tsp. Sugar

1 tb. Rounded tomato paste

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup water

Fresh herbs chopped; basil and parsley

Bucatini or penne pasta

Locatelli/romano cheese, grated

Process: 

1. In a medium saucepan, add olive oil and turn on medium-high heat
2. When oil is hot, add loose sausage, onion, and peppers. Stir to combine and let cook 3-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and anchovies, stir, and cook another 3 minutes.
4. Once sausage starts to brown and onions become translucent, add a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan, then add crushed tomatoes, stir to combine. When sauce starts to boil, turn heat to low, and add: sugar, trapani sicilian sea salt, tomato paste, and water. Stir to mix, and cover partially.
5. Let simmer and stir every 20-30 minutes. After 1.5 hours, add chopped herbs and mix. Keep on simmering 1-2 more hours, adding water if necessary to cook down more.
6. Take off heat and cover.

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and add noodles back to empty pot, stir in 3-4 tb of sauce, just enough to coat noodles nicely. Plate your pasta and top with homemade sauce. Garnish with fresh basil, parsley, and small pinch of trapani sicilian sea salt. Top with locatelli cheese and serve with a side salad and a glass of your favorite red wine.

Enjoy!:)