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I have thought about opening my own Italian restaurant because I love to cook and I love to cook Italian food. One of my favorite items to cook is lasagna. I actually cook lasagna for thanksgiving dinner instead of turkey. But whether you are cooking lasagna, manicotti, ravioli, or even pizza, the key is in the pasta sauce. Here is my recipe for great pasta sauce which is the basis for most Italian meals.

I now use a slow cooker to prepare my pasta sauce. I used to use a large kettle and cook on the stove top. But I had to constantly adjust the flame and stir the sauce. With the slow cooker or crock pot I can let the sauce cook without my constant watching. You need a food processor for this recipe and of course a slow cooker.

This pasta sauce is a vegetable based pasta sauce. Sometimes I add chicken or beef. Use your food processor to grate four medium sized carrots and three baby zucchini squash; process one large onion with three cloves of garlic and process a half stalk of celery with one bunch of parsley. Place all these all these ingredients on the bottom of your slow cooker which you have set on the low cooking time and temperature.

Cover the ingredients with diced tomatoes. Use two cans of tomatoes, 28 ounces each. Then add tomato paste, one eight ounce can. Now mix all the ingredients together. Add the spices next. Add one teaspoon of rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, sage, savory and marjoram. Mix that in well. Then add sugar about two tablespoons. This cuts the tomato acidity.

You cook this in the slow cooker for two to three hours at the lowest temperature setting. You can stir the sauce during the cook time a few times but unlike cooking your pasta sauce on the stove top you do not have to come back and keep stirring.

If you are a pasta sauce purest you might not want to use a crock pot. But I have tried both and I do not notice the difference. But the crock pot is a lot more convenient because I do not have to get up and check the flame or make sure I stir to keep if from sticking.

But if you want to use a stove top method raise the sauce first to a boil and then reduce the flame to a low simmer. And keep stirring the sauce so it does not stick to the pan. Once the cook time is over prepare some spaghetti and try out your sauce I am sure you will enjoy it.

Let the sauce cool down a littl before you refrigerate it. I pour the sauce in a cool pan so it will cool faster. You will have a lot of pasta sauce for the week if you are serving you or one more. Or it might go all at once if you are having guests over. Someday you might be eating in my Italian restaurant one day and recognize my pasta sauce recipe.

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