Rich And Zesty Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes (can be pre-seasoned if you like)
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 6 -8 whole garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato, chopped
• 2 -3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 -4 sprigs fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1 -2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 -2 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 -2 tablespoon dried italian seasoning
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1 (750 ml) bottle merlot

Recipe

• 1 in a large pot, sweat the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil over med-low heat.
• 2 add the peeled tomatoes, crushing them with your hands one by one into smaller chunks. be careful- they squirt all over the place! make sure to pour in all the liquid in the cans as well. add all ingredients except salt, cheese, and wine.
• 3 stir all ingredients together. cover, and increase heat to med-high. simmer/cook 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the sauce doesn't burn on the bottom.
• 4 add about 1/3 of the bottle of merlot. add the cheese. stir, reduce heat slightly and let that cook uncovered for another 15-20 min, stirring occasionally.
• 5 taste and determine if you need salt, and add to taste. for salt with a little tang, add some more cheese, if you have it. let simmer another 15 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.
• 6 during the last simmering stage, cook your pasta.
• 7 serve over pasta (1 ladleful is gracious plenty). extra sauce can frozen for up to a month. to reheat, let simmer on low uncovered, stirring frequently so the sugar in the merlot doesn't burn.
• 8 *spicy alternative: for a spicier sauce, use shiraz in place of merlot and add 2 tsp of dried red pepper flakes.