23 Sep 2010, 9:18 pm
28 Sep 2010, 2:00 pm
28 Sep 2010, 2:21 pm
28 Sep 2010, 7:30 pm
Well....overall your sauce sounds good.... but i'm just not crazy about Lentils.
I'd do a few things differently with sauce though
First of all... i'd use extra virgin olive oil. I may not use it in the pan, but I would add some to the sauce. Secondly....i'd probably add a little wine (cabernet, merlot, etc....) a few minutes before serving the sauce. I also might get a beef or pork bone (with a goodly amount of meat on it) and allow it to simmer in the sauce for a few hours.
My late Italian grandmother made the best sauce i've had to this day (and I eat alot of Italian food with tomato sauces) and she always used a beef or pork bone. This was the sauce she made when was serving spaghetti and meatballs though. I've tried to duplicate her sauce, but I haven't quite done so and I don't know what i'm doing wrong.
I'm glad to see you're using FRESH basil in your sauce. Dried basil is OK to use in pizza sauce and that's about it. Dried oregano is ok, but you don't want to use too much of that either. This is the entire reason I hate most bottled sauces you get in the grocery store. They add too much dried basil and it gives the sauce this foul sort of minty-ish taste. The only good bottled sauces i've had are the Gia Russa brand. They are expensive at $5-6 a bottle...but you get what you pay for.
In any case.....your sauce sounds pretty good and you seem like you know something about good Italian cooking 
28 Sep 2010, 8:36 pm
28 Sep 2010, 9:42 pm
What part of Italy was she from? That might offer a clue. Sauces vary tremendously from region to region.
Bones with marrow are often used in cooking to add flavor to broths and sauces. If that was what she used it for, you might try boiling the bone separately first and then cooking it in the sauce. The first boil will remove impurities and crap you don't want in your sauce.
OP, I like your recipe. I really love the use of lemon juice. I might try this. I have been avoiding lentils because I have some texture issues... LOL...
I know sauces vary from region to region. She was actually born here in the U.S. Her parents were from Calabria though. AFAIK, most of the Italian-Americans here in Western Pennsylvania ( I was born and raised here, but I now live in Florida and I came up here for an autism research study which rejected me and to visit my family) are Calabrese. The immigrants from this region worked in the steel industry and alot of them made glass as well. As far as your recommendation here, i'm betting that's what she did. I am hardly an Emeril Lagasse though, so i'm not familiar with these little culinary tricks. I rarely cook as it is. I get too impatient and bored doing it and I hate to clean up. Once in a while I get the urge to whip something up though and overall, i'm not the worst cook in the world.
Anyway...thanks for the suggestion and i'll definitely try this next time I decide to make an Italian-style tomato sauce. That may be sometime in my next incarnation however
29 Sep 2010, 2:39 am
I'd do a few things differently with sauce though
First of all... i'd use extra virgin olive oil. I may not use it in the pan, but I would add some to the sauce. Secondly....i'd probably add a little wine (cabernet, merlot, etc....) a few minutes before serving the sauce. I also might get a beef or pork bone (with a goodly amount of meat on it) and allow it to simmer in the sauce for a few hours.
My late Italian grandmother made the best sauce i've had to this day (and I eat alot of Italian food with tomato sauces) and she always used a beef or pork bone. This was the sauce she made when was serving spaghetti and meatballs though. I've tried to duplicate her sauce, but I haven't quite done so and I don't know what i'm doing wrong.
I'm glad to see you're using FRESH basil in your sauce. Dried basil is OK to use in pizza sauce and that's about it. Dried oregano is ok, but you don't want to use too much of that either. This is the entire reason I hate most bottled sauces you get in the grocery store. They add too much dried basil and it gives the sauce this foul sort of minty-ish taste. The only good bottled sauces i've had are the Gia Russa brand. They are expensive at $5-6 a bottle...but you get what you pay for.
In any case.....your sauce sounds pretty good and you seem like you know something about good Italian cooking
I'm a vegetarian so I wouldn't use a beef or pork bone, though I'm sure that does taste lovely. That your grandmother was from a Italian family hailing from the southern region of Calabria makes me think your suggestions are worth taking. The south of Italy is of course the region where tomato sauces are at their best and most commonly eaten. I'll definitely try adding a bit of an Italian wine and mixing some extra virgin olive oil into the sauce after cooking. I've seen Jamie Oliver adding extra virgin olive oil to meals when he visited Italy. You can see that on Youtube if anyone's interested. Search for "Jamie's Italian Escape" on there.
Thank you! Sometimes I put in half a can of soaked beans instead. Just make sure you don't forget to drain them first.
