granma julia's marinara sauce

[niki]

this was the way i had to learn to make sauce because once my children ate my friend's sauce, they refused to eat mine....
         2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes(preferably the plum tomatoes)
         1 medium onion
         10 nice size cloves of garlic
         7-8 leaves(with the smaller stems)of fresh basil
 
   you break up the tomatoes with your hands(in a bowl)and then you put them through a food mill...meanwhile, in a large pot, saute the onion whole in olive oil....it should be brown all around, so put that in first..then add the garlic whole until brown all around also...add the tomatoes......whenever you want, you fish out the garlic(could be sooner...could be later)but you leave the onion in until the end......salt..pepper...simmer......i'm going to say i used to simmer it for a couple of hours....about an hour before it's done cooking, clean and add the basil and continue cooking....granma julia used to add a little sugar to take away the bitterness from the tomatoes, but we'll pass on that.......other than that ONE detail, this is the REAL thing....NOONE cooks like granma julia...i have her rice ball recipe(because NOONE makes rice balls like granma julia), but we won't talk about that.........THAT'S another story...my meatballs with chick pea flour and LET'S GO............niki

[niki]

the woman whose recipe this was went home to be with the Lord last monday.....she would have been 88 today........mary, how wonderful that you were born on her birthday.............NOONE could match her skills and instinct in the kitchen..........her rice balls were phenomenal and noone made sauce or eggplant parmigiana like her.......she used to crochet blankets that she used to pay to send into the city for the needy...........
   she suffered for 2 months in intensive care after having valves replaced in her heart...before that she did everything at home and was completely independent..she looked SO MUCH younger than she was and for that reason it was a shock to all that she didn't make it............i was waiting for her recovery to bring her my cookies which she loved(she said i baked with love)
   she leaves behind a family that will be lost without her....one of their dogs was lucy.....lucy was a shepherd mix and was old and was most attached to granma julia.......she's been very sad in the last 2 months that granma julia was in the hospital....when her grandaughter said goodbye to her at the funeral parlor, she told her grandmother that lucy would be with her soon....lucy was just diagnosed with bone cancer and was put to sleep yesterday.....
   PRAISE GOD that even if we don't understand why things happen, God is IN CONTROL.................in Him,niki

[Forever Young]

Niki,

Have you tried using brown-brown rice and making Granma Julia's rice balls?  Here's your quote: "i have her rice ball recipe(because NOONE makes rice balls like granma julia)".  Since we can have the brown-brown rices, would it work in this recipe?

Love, 
Jeanne

[niki]

Niki,
Have you tried using brown-brown rice and making Granma Julia's rice balls? 

  i HAVE thought about that..........the problem is that in order for them to come out really good, you need a lot of cheese and i don't think the fat free cheese will make it worthwhile....there are some things that just don't work........good thought, jeanne.........thanks.....................niki 

[patsyfay]

I remember reading years ago about a family whose father made the spaghetti sauce all the time and they all said it was the best around.  When he passed, no one knew how to make it quite the way he did, although they knew the basics.  When they finally got around to cleaning out his house, they opened a cupboard in his kitchen one day and found it filled with jars of grape jelly.  They also found baskets filled with empty jars (actually they were old fashioned jelly glasses) of grape jelly.  Could this be the secret to his spaghetti sauce?, they wondered.  So they tried it and found that, indeed, they had discovered the secret.  When I saw that you were leaving out the bit of sugar in Granma Julia's marinara, I wondered if adding a bit of unsweetened grape jam or jelly would add that little something extra.  Just a thought.

Pat

[niki]

isn't that something?.......now, he should have taught his secret to someone in case they might have just thought he liked jam for his toast....i'm going to ask my friend if she ever heard of anyone doing that.......i do remember someone coming to my house and bringing swedish meatballs....everybody loved them and she then told them that the secret was grape jelly in the sauce.....i have to say that that put me off and i never got the recipe to make them myself....

[patsyfay]

I guess the thinking is...if you add wine to your sauce and that's made with grapes, why not add jelly to your sauce, it's made with grapes, as well.  It's really all a matter of personal preference.  I've had sauce with and without wine and they're all wonderful.  I love spaghetti.  I've got a freezer full of plum tomatoes that I prepared this summer and I'm going to make extra thick and chunky sauce and add just a wee bit of Dreamfield's.  Mmmm.

I never heard of grape jelly in Swedish Meatballs either.  I thought that was just hearty beef stock and sour cream.

[Queenie]

I've had the meatballs with the grape jelly... Actually, they had spicy barbecue sauce AND grape jelly... and were VERY good!  As far as the grape jelly in the spaghetti sauce - not only is what Pat said true, but the sugar in the jelly helps counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, making a much "smoother" tasting sauce.

Reminds me of a story - when I was in 7th grade, I took Cooking one semester.  Each "kitchen" consisted of 4-5 people.  One time we had to make spaghetti sauce.  Well, the teacher went around when we were almost done  - tasting each batch.  She said that ours tasted very good, but was a bit acidic.  Me, being how I am, piped up - "Oh, no problem!  Just add a teaspoon or so of sugar."  She was    APPALLED  and said NOT to do that!!  And again, me, being how I am -- the minute her back was turned, put a bit in.     At the end of the period she sampled the finished products... Guess which batch was declared the best tasting??  Yep! 

(and now you know!!  lol!!)   

Carolyn

[niki]

I guess the thinking is...if you add wine to your sauce and that's made with grapes, why not add jelly to your sauce, it's made with grapes, as well.

  you're absolutely right.......

[robnveronica]

At one time, I found a pasta sauce here called Silver Palate (they've since discontinued the brand I think) but instead of sugar or cane juice they added concentrated grape juice. It was a really good sauce and since there was no "sugar" added it was legal for LDL. Just my 2 cents worth!

[niki]

and ONLY now that you mention that about concentrated grape juice do i realize that THAT'S what i can add to my tomato sauce instead of sugar for the bitterness and still have it be ldl appropriate.............thanks, veronica...when pat mentioned the man using grape jelly, i thought of grape jelly with sugar in it..

[robnveronica]

Glad I could help!!