Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2013

I followed the basic recipe but added salt and sugar to taste. I also added a dash of baking soda to cut acidity. I used a red bell pepper, which I roasted on my stove burner, peeled off the skin and then chopped and added to the tomato mixture. I caramelized the onion while sauteing the carrots. When everything cooked down, I tossed out the bay leaf and celery (but not the celery leaves). I pureed everything once again, using my immersion blender. I was very happy with the intensified flavors. I am going to use it over spaghetti squash!

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Reviewer:

Linda D.

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Ventura, California, USA

Reviewed: Feb. 16, 2013

Terrific if you want a sauce with an italian type spice mix. I wanted a sauce that I could use to make enchilada sauce and tomato soup. The flavors were too italian. Very icky. Once I discovered that, I left the sauce in the freezer until I was making italian. Terrific as it was other than that.

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Reviewer:

stacyb

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Indianola, Iowa, USA

Living In: Joliet, Illinois, USA

Reviewed: Nov. 15, 2012

We grew a lot of tomatoes this year and used this recipe to use up the ones that were overripe. It was delicious! We poured it over chicken breasts and topped with mozzarella. We also ate it over pasta. As always, we left out the sugar entirely and alternated the veggies we put in it, using zucchini and summer squash instead of the peppers. Scrumptious!

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Reviewer:

PamelaClare

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Boulder, Colorado, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2012

I made two batches of this sauce on two different occasions. Both turned out excellent - with rave reviews from the family. I won't go back to store bought sauce. In the second batch I added in some hot peppers from the garden and it added some 'zing' to the sauce. I also added in 2 tbsp of brown sugar to the second batch (approximately 10 cups of sauce) - really added nicely to the sauce. I used it to make lasagna the next night. Wow!!

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Reviewer:

Kato

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Leduc, Alberta, Canada

Reviewed: Aug. 13, 2012

Fantastic recipe!! I used home grown San Marzano tomatoes and I roasted the pepper for added flavor depth. Simple (albeit a bit time consuming) recipe. I highly recommend giving it a try!!

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Reviewer:

Traveldog

Reviewed: Aug. 13, 2012

Great recipe. Easy to follow for a 1st timer like myself. I used 8 lb of tomatos. Left the butter out and also omitted the wine and tomato paste. I left the carrots and celery whole and simmered them until the end-then discarded them with the bay leaves(2). I added 1 tsp each of salt, thyme and oregano. The most important step is removing the seeds. I have already made this a 2nd time and plan to make again with the wine.

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Reviewer:

Morningloria

Reviewed: Aug. 12, 2012

Great recipe! I only cooked mine for 3 hours. I left out the carrots and celery for fear it would turn into a V8 sauce. I also added a 6 oz can of tomato puree.

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Reviewer:

Erin

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Canton, Ohio, USA

Living In: Columbus, Ohio, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 9, 2012

Wow!! I will never buy tomato sauce again!!!

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Reviewer:

Kirsten

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Reviewed: Aug. 9, 2012

very good

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Reviewer:

TheresaK

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Aug. 7, 2012

As the recipe stands I have to give it 3 stars. I found it took a lot longer to thicken than 2 hours and I added more spice to flavour the sauce. Good base...season to taste.

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