Red sauce with veggies

This recipe is for a traditional Italian tomato sauce with added vegetables making it a great family meal.

I just recently began attempting to make a weekly red sauce in order to keep the family tradition alive. Every Sunday my parents and their parents before them started the sauce around 9 am and allowed it to slow cook until pasta time. For years, this method and passed down recipe intimidated me to the point where I would avoid the temptation of attempting to recreate this classic.

Here goes.

1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced chopped or sliced
Handful of basil
1/2 handful parsley
1/4 c water
2 16 oz cans whole tomatoes
1 12 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 c tomato paste
Pinch of raw sugar
Salt
Pepper
Assorted chopped veggies or 1/2 bag of mixed frozen veggies such as corn, broccoli, carrots, peas
2 handfuls baby spinach
8 mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsp olive oil for frying

1. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onions and garlic. Sauté until translucent then add basil, parsley, salt and pepper and mix.

2. Add the three cans of tomatoes, tomato paste and water and mix. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer.

3. Add pinch of sugar, cover and allow to simmer for at least 5 hours. Taste occasionally adjusting salt and pepper as needed.

4. Add the veggies for the last length of cooking. About 20 to 30 minutes for frozen veggies and 1 hour for fresh.

5. Serve over hot al dente pasta and enjoy.

This recipe yields enough sauce for 1.5 pounds of pasta. I serve it over 1 pound and then freeze the remainder of the sauce for a later date.

I typically serve it with kid-friendly pasta such as rotini, farfalle or wagon wheels and separate some "adult sauce" and add crushed red pepper and ricotta cheese. The canned tomatoes I use are Muir Glenn Organics.