For the longest time, I bought jarred spaghetti sauce. I think it was because I've always found the home made kind to be a bit...watery? Anyway, I didn't have time to run to the store and so I threw this together with what was in my fridge and it turns out, it was the best spaghetti sauce ever. In our opinion. You can tweak it to turn out however you'd like!Sauce:
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
1 small sweet red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup red wine
800 ml canned tomatoes and their juice (I used home made canned ones)
one 5 oz can tomato paste
meatballs (this part of the recipe was adapted from Looneyspoons)
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 tbsp minced onions
2 tbsp chopped parsley
3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 egg white
Start with the sauce:
In a small amount of oil, saute the onion, red pepper, celery, and garlic until the veggies are soft. Stir in the mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring, while they soften (about 5 minutes).
Add the basil, oregano, thyme, pepper flakes, some salt and pepper. Cook 1 more minute. Stir in the tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, and sugar. Break the tomatoes up with your spoon. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer. I admit that I didn't pay attention to how long I allowed it to simmer, but I'm guessing anywhere between 30-45 minutes when the sauce didn't appear watery anymore, but instead thick and delicious looking.
Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
Mix the breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and egg white in a large bowl. Add the turkey and gently mix it all together until well incorporated (I just use my hands). Line a baking sheet with foil and then shape the meat by teaspoons into little balls.
I like my meatballs small so you feel like you are getting lots of them. Bake in a 375 F oven for about 15 minutes until browned and cooked through.
When your sauce is ready, you can toss in the meatballs and stir it all together. Serve over hot cooked pasta with lots of Parmesan cheese.
Yum!
Makes about 5 servings.
