January 3, 2017
Hello there, Slow-Cookerers!
Let's go back to the very basics ---
pasta sauce. Marinara sauce.
It's easy to do, tastes better than the stuff in a jar, makes your house smell good, and there is no need whatsoever to add in extra salt or sugar.
#winner!
This recipe will make roughly 3 quarts. You can freeze this in bags flattened out in the freezer or in plastic freezer containers.
The
best part?
There are NO rules. Throw in your favorite spices, and customize how you see fit. There are also no rules about the tomatoes. I used what I happened to have in the pantry at the time.
Buy what's on sale, and have at it!
The Ingredients.
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can of tomato sauce
1 (12.5- ounce) Italian flavored diced tomatoes.
16 ounces fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (and a bit more to taste when cooking is
done)
1 pound super lean ground turkey meat (NO need to brown on the stove!)
--> SEE NOTES BELOW ABOUT USING FRESH TOMATOES OR COOKING NOODLES IN POT. <--
The Directions.
Add the thawed (or fresh) turkey meat to
the crockpot.
Dump in all the cans of tomatoes, and break the ground meat up with a large spoon. Stir in the spices and mushrooms.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for about 5 hours.
When done cooking, break up the ground meat a bit more and season to taste.
Jarred pasta sauce is awfully salty; I didn't add any salt, but your tongue might desperately want it
(you'll probably need about 1 teaspoon of
kosher salt, but start slowly. If you are using regular table salt, use half of this amount -- table salt has smaller granules).
I also didn't add ANY sugar. That's because it feels weird to put sugar into pasta sauce, even though if you read the ingredients in the grocery store they all have tons of sugar.
SO -- if this isn't sweet enough for your taste buds, go ahead and add a bit at a time to get it to the flavor you're looking for.
Serve right away, or package
for freezing.
PS: HEY STEPH, I WANT TO USE FRESH TOMATOES!
Okay. You can. But you really should try to peel them first.
Use 3.5 pounds.
The stewed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes don't have any skin. Skin is weird in pasta sauce, trust me.
The best way to peel a whole bunch of tomatoes is this way:
Bring a really large pot of water to a boil (leave 6 inches or so of room for displacement. TRUST ME.)
After you have washed all your tomatoes, use a paring knife to cut an X into the bottom of each one, and then toss them into the already-boiling water.
Let them tumble for 1 minute. Then lift out with a large slotted spoon and drop them into a large bowl or
container or ice water.
Once they are cool enough to handle, slip the skin off. And I suppose compost it or feed it to chickens or something like that. ;-)
Use 3.5 pounds of tomatoes to keep everything else the same in this recipe. For the last 30 minutes or so, cook on high with the lid off to let the steam escape to naturally thicken the sauce.
PS: HEY STEPH, I WANT TO COOK THE NOODLES IN THE
SAUCE!
Okay. You can. My suggestion would be to brown the meat beforehand, then break your noodles in half and stir them completely into the sauce.
Cover and cook the same way but know that your finished spaghetti is going to be more casserole-ish instead of spaghetti-ish.
The consistency will be that of a baked ziti or lasagna --- still DELICIOUS but not
wet.
