San Marzano Tomato Sauce with sausage balls

By á-289

San Marzano tomatoes, a variety of plum tomatoes, are considered by many chefs to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world. Most notably from the area near Naples, Italy.

Ingredients

• 1 can San Marzano tomatoes, 28 ounces
• 1 shallot (or not) chopped
• 1 garlic clove (or more if you like) chopped
• 1 teaspoon pepperoncino (or more or less)
• 3-4 Basil leaves, rolled up, sliced down the middle and chopped
• 1 cup (or more) white wine (Pinot Grigio, Orvietto, etc.)
• Jimmy Dean Hot sausage, like half a package per can of tomatoes.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Extra Virgin olive oil

Details

Servings 3

Preparation

Step 1

'Clean' up the tomatoes by cutting off the stem end, slicing them open and removing most of the seeds. There may be a bit of peel that you can remove too. I pitch the basil leaves ... we'll add more later. Put the tomatoes and all the juice left in the can into a blender or food processor and puree.

In a sauce pan, sauté the shallots in some olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. About 2-3 minutes or so. Add the chopped garlic and pepperoncino and cook for another 30 seconds ... Dump in the pureed tomatoes, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Stir every now and then, taste, season with salt and pepper as needed.

While the tomatoes are cooking, make the sausage balls (I make mine about 1 inch in diameter) and fry them up in some oil. There are other things that could be added to the sauce instead of sausage ... shrimp, hamburger, other meat balls, or make/buy ravioli.

Start cooking the pasta if it's dried or wait a bit if it's fresh.

To the tomato sauce, add in the wine, stir and cook for about another 3-4 minutes.

Add the chopped basil and cook another minute or two ... stirring.

Dump in the meatballs, let them reheat and serve over the pasta. Oh, and parmesan cheese on top.