Chunky Tomato and Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce

Chunky San Marzano Tomato Basil sauce with Italian sausage on a dish of Fresh Tomato Basil pasta.

In keeping with the Old World Italian tradition of not wasting any food, this sauce was quickly made from ingredients from a previous day's meal.  This resembles a Basic Tomato Sauce with a few variations.

Ingredients

The ingredient list shown here was more than sufficient for two hearty servings.

1 to 1.5 cups whole San Marzano tomatoes

12 grape tomatoes, quartered lengthwise

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil – Enough to coat the bottom of the pan

1 Medium onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 Tablespoons tomato pasta.
1 Tbs dried Sweet Basil.

Easy Directions

Fry the sausage in a medium hot frying pan with enough olive oil to coat the pan. Fry until browned. Add the onions and heat until softened, and then add the garlic. Break up the whole tomatoes by hand as you drop them into the pan.   Because San Marzano tomatoes are packed in tomato puree, no other tomato sauce was necessary.  Stir in the quartered tomatoes, tomato paste, freshly ground pepper, and the dried sweet basil.

Follow to information about San Marzano tomatoes

Bring to a boil and then quickly lower to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally for about 20 to 30 minutes. Cooking the sauce over a high temperature will cause the sauce to turn bitter.

The finished sauce can either be served right away, refrigerated for about a week, or frozen for no longer than 3 months. Store in an air tight container.

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