This is a dish that I make fairly often. I don’t really remember when I started putting together my own pasta sauce, but I won’t go back to the jarred stuff now. Since I use canned tomatoes my sauce isn’t entirely built from the ground up, but they save time in the process, which makes this a great week night dinner.

It starts, like most things, with a large chopped onion and two or three minced garlic cloves.

Saute them in olive oil in a LARGE skillet (seriously, you will need it to fit all the stuff that goes into this) over medium high heat until the garlic is nicely browned and the onions start to soften.

I usually throw in some kind of meat; many times it’s Trader Joe’s chicken sausage, which is oh-so-tasty. But occasionally I’ll forget or purposefully make this with vegetables only, and it’s just as filling and good.

The TJ’s sausages pre-cooked, but I throw them in the pan next to brown them.

The beauty of this recipe is you can throw in any veggies you feel like. I always put a green pepper in, and tonight I added green beans as well. Carrots, broccoli, snow peas… they all work great.

I throw the veggies in the pan to brown a bit, but not for long. They’ll get plenty cooked later as the sauce comes together. If you wanted them to be crisper, you could add them later in the process, but I usually throw them in here.

If I have a lot of time, I’ll go for fresh tomatoes, but if, like usual, I’m hungry and impatient, a can of stewed tomatoes adds larger chunks of tomatoes to the sauce without the work.

A large (28-oz) can of crushed tomatoes makes up the bulk of the sauce. I’ve spent some time trying out different brands of crushed tomatoes, looking for one that is more than just tomato sauce, and my favorite brand is Rienzi. It has substantial chunks of tomatoes mixed in with the more thoroughly crushed substrate. A variety of spices also go in at this point. I usually use basil, oregano, a bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and this time I threw in some sage and paprika.

After simmering, covered, for about 15 minutes, then another 5-10 minutes uncovered to cook off some of the excess liquid, the sauce is ready to serve over your favorite pasta. I like rotini because the spirals hold onto the sauce well.

I’m providing a recipe for this, though it is really a fluid dish that easily accommodates a lot of variants.

Chunky Veggie Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• a variety of vegetables, chopped
• 1 14.5 oz can of stewed tomatoes
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon each oregano, basil, any other spices you would like
• salt and pepper
• 1 lb pasta

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until brown and soft.
2. Add sausage; saute until browned and mostly cooked through if using raw meat.
3. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook a few minutes.
4. Stir in canned tomatoes, including all of their liquids. Add the spices, salt and pepper and make sure everything is well combined.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes, covered, then remove the cover and simmer for another 5-10 minutes or most of the liquids have cooked off and the sauce has reached the desired consistency.
6. Serve over pasta of your choice, with fresh grated parmesan on top.