Happy's Tomato Sauce ☺

Happy's Tomato Sauce is a thick, chunky sauce that's great for pizza and pasta. If it is too chunky for your taste, just run it through your food processor or blender for a few seconds.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes in juice
28 oz can puréed tomatoes
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves, broken in half
1 tsp black pepper, ground
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, to taste
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

In a large soup pot, sauté the onions in the olive oil over medium high heat until the onions begin to brown. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute or so. Stir in the celery and green pepper, and sauté until the vegetables are limp, but brightly colored.

Drain the can of San Marzano tomatoes into the soup pot. Working quickly, crush each tomato between your fingers into the pot. Add the other cans of tomatoes (do not drain the diced tomatoes) to the soup pot. Bring the pot back to a bubbling boil.

Stir in all of the remaining ingredients. Reduce the heat so that the pot is bubbling, but not quite boiling. Leave the pot uncovered and continue cooking for 3 - 4 hours until it is as thick as you want. Stir the sauce every 15 minutes or so, more often as the sauce thickens.

Yield: 1 quart (8 servings)

Prep Time: 1 hrs. 00 mins.

Cook time: 4 hrs. 00 mins.

Total time: 5 hrs. 0 mins.