My first tomato sauce!

Well the first sauce that I've made from scratch that is.

 

Ingredients include (but since I don't have a perfect memory, may not be limited to):

- 1 large can stewed tomatoes (steam peeled before canning)

- 1 small can tomato paste

- 3 cloves fresh minced garlic

- 4 cloves minced roast garlic (remember that post from yesterday?)

- about 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary

- about the same amount of fresh basil

- some fresh parsley

- ground black pepper

- salt

- 1/2 minced onion

- 3 sliced white mushrooms

- 1/3 orange sliced bell pepper

- a dash of oregano

- a dash of dried thyme

- a pinch of marjoram

- pinch of fennel seed

- pinch of celery seed

- a touch of cayenne powder

- 4-5 tablespoons of fresh mozzarella

- 3-4 tablespoons of fresh grated parmesan

- 1/4 or so of 1/2&1/2

All thrown in a pan with a lid and allowed to simmer until everything else was done.

 

And since sauce by itself isn't worth a darn, I made some pasta and meatballs to accompany.

 

The meatballs included sicilian and sweet italian sausages (as well as 1/2 lb of hamburger, fresh garlic, pepper, salt, as well as most of the herbs as the sauce):

 

I tried a new cooking method for them. I threw them in a pan and broiled them, turning a few times throughout:

The taste was great and the color was unbeatable, but they were a touch on the dry side. Next time I won't cook them quite as long.

 

All of this combined with the pasta to form a beauteous little meal:

 

Some more roasted garlic got mixed with butter and chilled. This then went on some french rolls to accompany.

 

For my first shot at a sauce it was pretty darn good (if I do say so myself), though next time around I will probably do slightly less bell pepper, and lots more cheese.