O’Brien Pasta Sauce

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes

This is not for faint of heart. It involves some prep work and making a mess with lots of dirty dishes.

But it’s a huge portion designed to make lots of leftovers. I suggest pairing with Chicken Parmesan, because that always takes a lot of sauce and is good for leftovers. Plus, you’ll use even more sauce with the pasta.

If you’re making this sauce for pasta, you’re going to have plenty leftover. We’re all about leftovers. I suggest throwing some in the fridge and a couple containers in the freezer. Yes, it’s just as delicious after defrosting, just don’t leave in the freezer too long.

And you can always trim the recipe proportionally, but I haven’t done it, so I can’t make any recommendations.

Pro Tip: We always save our Chinese food containers because they’re good for a couple lunches before they start breaking. But the quart soup containers are great for holding the leftover pasta sauce. But, they do seem to let in a little bit of air, so we recommend defrosting it within a week because otherwise you might get some freezer burn.

Pasta Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick of butter (unsalted)
• 2 Large carrots (chopped finely)
• 3 Stalks of celery (chopped finely)
• 1 Large sweet onion (chopped finely)
• 1 Garlic bulb (chopped finely)
• Olive oil (to taste because I don’t measure)
• 3 Cans of tomato sauce (28 oz – unsalted)
• 3 Cans of crushed tomatoes (28 oz – unsalted)
• 3 oz of tomato paste (usually comes in 6 oz can; don’t need all of it)
• 1 Basil plant (10-15 leaves)
• ½ cup of parmesan cheese
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Oregano (to taste)
• Crushed red pepper (to taste)
• Thyme (to taste)
• Marjoram (to taste)

Pro tip: I like salt and I add it with a heavy hand throughout the process. I always buy unsalted canned goods because they put so much of it in there and I’ve read that you can add as much as you want and you’ll never come close to the amount of salt that companies use for packing. So, I buy unsalted products and I use a heavy hand adding salt throughout the process. If you buy canned goods with salt, don’t add as much as I do throughout the recipe.

Preparation:

This is where the work comes in. If you have a food processor, you’re ahead of the game and it won’t take you long. If you don’t, I hope you have a sharp knife. (And, you should probably order one today! This is the one we have and it never fails and is easy to clean.)

Use the food processor for the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Keep the onion and garlic separate because you add them at different times than the carrots and celery. Or, you can chop as finely as you can get them. Blast them until they are chopped, but close to minced. You want some substance to your sauce, so you don’t want them to be a puree.

Cooking:

In the largest pot you have on low heat:

Step 1:

Melt stick of butter and some olive oil

Step 2:

Once, melted, add carrots and celery – let cook for 5 minutes

Step 3:

Add onion and garlic – let cook for 5 minutes

Step 4:

Add salt and pepper to taste (heavy on the salt if you used unsalted canned goods)

Step 5:

Add sauce and crushed tomatoes

Step 6:

Simmer 15 minutes

Step 7:

Add spices and seasonings (oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, thyme, and marjoram)

Step 8:

Simmer one hour

Step 9:

Add basil leaves and simmer 20 minutes

Step 10:

Add parmesan cheese and 2 heavy tablespoons of tomato paste (let simmer 10 minutes)

Serve over pasta and use for your garlic bread.

I almost always make chicken parmesan with this because it uses a lot of sauce, especially with a nice heaping side of pasta. Chicken parmesan isn’t a rocket science dish, but use our recipe for our take.

The History of the O’Brien Pasta Sauce

Some of the way I learned how to cook was by watching mafia movies and shows. They always have someone cooking sauce and pasta, and they always add in a little tidbit of information.

Whether it was The Godfather, when Clemenza tells Michael that he should learn how to cook because you never know when you’ll have to cook for twenty guys.

Or the Sunday cooking scene in Goodfellas using a razor blade to slice the garlic (The thinner it is, the more flavor that comes out).

Then there was the scene in The Sopranos who shared the trick of adding a little sauce and butter to the pasta after you drain it and keeping it low heat, so the pasta absorbs the sauce.

And, even though it has nothing to do with cooking, now I’m thinking about all the great mafia movies and of course, that led me to one of the best lines in any movie.

Okay, okay, okay.

Before we dive down this rabbit hole and we’re all watching a marathon of mafia movies for the next couple days thinking that, yeah, I’m a badass, let’s get to the recipe.

Experiments to Our Pasta Sauce

Sauce is such a personal experience because it takes to long to make, but it’s something you’re probably going to make at least once or twice a year. Plus, everyone has their own family traditions and grandma’s favorite additions.

And, it’s low and slow for a long time, like really good BBQ or chili. You can’t rush this process and there are no shortcuts (besides buying the jars in the store).

Because we’ve always wanted our own, go-to pasta recipe, we’ve done a bunch of experiments over the years.

Some of our past experiments include:

• Adding spinach (too much water and not enough flavor)
• Adding capers
• Using chicken broth
• Adding red wine

Make your own additions to see what’s best for you and your family! Leave your comments below or your own recipe and we might feature you in an upcoming article!