Francesca sauce with spicy italian sausage

This recipe was adapted from an italian restaurant I used to manage/ a stand in chef in River North. We made the sauce actually for one of the cheese-less pizzas that were made from scratch. I thus altered the recipe through the years & came up with this sauce that I usually serve with capellini pasta.

I often reminiscence about the owner when making this dish. Lunch time was incredibly busy during the week! I had usually 4 cashiers ringing away non stop during the hour & Sam ( the owner) would be in the corner with Louie Primo or Frank Sinatra blasting & he would be singing away grinning ear to ear. You could see on his face a look of pure contentment.

This was also the first meal I ever made for Jeffrey when we first started dating which I served with garlic bread & homemade chocolate chip cookies. I think this sealed the deal~lol!

Francesca sauce recipe~

2- large onions diced

3- large garlic cloves minced

1-large package of fresh basil chopped( net wt. 4oz)

1/4 -1/2 c. good olive oil ( I use Lefas kalamata olive oil from Caputo's)

1- 28oz. can organic crushed tomatoes

2- 14oz. cans organic tomato sauce

1- can organic tomato paste

salt to taste

*you may omit the sausage~if preferred

1 pound hot italian sausage( from Caputo's) I used to by it from Whole foods but i have to say this is much better!

Saute onions in olive oil until transparent, then add the garlic & basil~saute on low until aroma releases ( approx. 2min)

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, brown sausage REALLY well in a high heat oil ( i use canola)

When the onion mixture is done, add the mixture to a heavy bottomed pot & add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes & tomato paste.

When sausage is well browned, remove from pan & add a bit of water to release all the flavorful brown bits from the bottom of pan & pour into sauce.

Simmer for a couple of hours~stir occasionally. Serve with pasta of your choice & sprinkle generously with parmigiano reggiano~ Mangia!

made with love~Jodi