World Famous Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

1. Heat stock pot over medium heat, and add ½ Tablespoons of olive oil. Remove turkey sausage from casings and brown in the pot, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Remove from pot and set aside.

2. In the same pot, over medium-low heat, “sweat” onions, carrots and celery with juice from sausage, or if there is no juice use 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, until vegetables are very soft, translucent, and onions begin to caramelize. Stir frequently. Add a healthy pinch of salt and pepper. Stir in minced garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Set vegetable mixture aside.

3. While vegetables are sweating, gently squeeze the seeds out of the whole tomatoes. (Reserve the liquid.) Place tomatoes on a foil lined 15 x 9 x 2 inch jelly roll pan. Broil until the tomatoes begin to blacken in spots, and then stir to turn them over. Repeat this step again until the tomatoes have a bit of black on all sides. (Watch closely! About 15 minutes total).

4. Place vegetables, fire roasted tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and tomato puree in the empty stock pot. Then add dried oregano and dried basil, along with another healthy pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle in a few red pepper flakes, if using. Puree with a hand (“stick”) blender (or in batches in a food processor or blender,) until smooth. The sauce will be very thick. Add some of the reserved tomato juice if you like your sauce a bit thinner.

5. Stir in browned turkey sausage and parsley. If you are a mushroom fan, now would be a good time to add them. Cover and simmer for 15-30 minutes.

Makes 4 quarts of sauce. Serve over your favorite pasta.