Noni’s Spaghetti Sauce
Known to the Marcheschi/Cherry’s as simply “Sauce,” this family recipe is closer to a Bolognese without the cream. It’s one of those things that the whole family spends the day making together before the neighbors come over asking for a few cups to take home.
Go easy on the sweet spices. They’re critical, but they’re bold and impossible to disguise if you get them wrong. Also, the recipe is kinda brand-loyal. I’d say Hunts tomatoes are great, but Cento even better.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds of well-trimmed Pork Butt/Shoulder (with bone)
- 3-6 stalks of celery (one head of celery will do the trick)
- 1 bag of baby carrots (the larger sized baby carrots not the petit)
- 3 extra-large yellow onions
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice (actual lemon not from bottle)
- 1 ½ cups Olive Oil
- 1 12ounce can of Hunts tomato paste
- 4 large cans of Hunts tomato puree (buy at least 3 extra bc sometimes more is needed)
- 4 large cans of Hunts crushed tomatoes (don’t need extra of this)
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (or more to taste)
- ½ tablespoon Rubbed Sage
- 1 tablespoon Dried Oregano
- Up to 1 teaspoon Allspice
- Up to ½ teaspoon Ground Clove
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme leaves
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Up to 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Coarse grind up the meat
- Coarse grind up the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic until it looks like a good mixture
- Add the oil to the pan and rotate to coat the sides
- Mix the lemon juice, meat and veggies in the pan and begin to cook down. (I add the bone and fat layer to the sauté mixture just for flavor and remove them when they become bulky)
- Add sage, basil, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves as the liquid from cooking the meat begins to reduce.
- When the liquid from the meat is mostly gone, remove from the heat.
- Add tomato paste, puree, and crushed tomatoes. Mix thoroughly.
- Add a little salt & pepper. (I add about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper)
- Stir & bake in the oven with the lid off for about 1 hour, stirring the whole pot every 15 minutes or more depending on your oven. Scrape the edges of the pan into the sauce
- Taste and adjust the green herbs and garlic to your taste.
- Cook for another 1/2 hour or so, stirring every 10-15 minutes
- If tomatoes are not changing color, cook for another ½ hour or so, stirring every 10 minutes
- Remove from oven, taste for any other herb adjustments, and add about 1/2 the amount for Cinnamon, Allspice and Cloves (sweet spices)
- Bake for another 1/2 hour, stirring every 5-10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust sweet spices
- Bake for another 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste
PRO TIP: This is such a lengthy process, you should make it in bulk and then portion out and freeze some. It keeps well and only gets better as it sits for a day or two.
