Spaghetti Sauce
By Yankee Magazine|Apr 21 2002|
My grandmother arrived in Boston in 1888, but in a way she never did leave Italy. She was born at sea, on the way over from Milan. The ship’s captain presented my great-grandparents with the choice of draping either the Italian or American flag over their newborn. At sea, this choice of flags was entered into the captain’s log to determine nationality. They chose the American flag, and my grandmother arrived in Boston Harbor as an American citizen. With her came the finest of recipes for Italian spaghetti sauce.
Ingredients
Homemade spaghetti sauce
carrots
Instructions
Put your paper and pencils away, because this one’s easy! Begin with your own tomato sauce, homemade or otherwise. Next, skin a generous quantity of carrots, then, using a cheese or vegetable grater, simply grate your carrots into your sauce just before or during the time your sauce is cooking. Grate your carrots to the texture of your own delight — however, in a fine texture, as I prefer, the carrots will not even be known to be in the sauce except for that extra wonderful savor and body that those who try your sauce will ask about. Carrots will also bring their own natural sweetness and reduce or eliminate the need for sugar that some sauces require against tartness. Of course, meatballs or sausages may be cooked in your sauce to this same recipe.
Notes
The Yankee Cook agrees — finely grated carrots add body and sweetness to spaghetti sauce without seriously changing the taste. Allow 1 medium carrot for each 1-1/2 cups of sauce.
My Wife has lost an old time Spaghetti Sauce recipe that we got from Yankee Magazine and I believe
it came from Boston’s North End. Do you still have the recipe..she would love to have it….She was
famous for her/your spaghetti sauce..
Thanks
Hi John. We’ve published many spaghetti sauce recipes over the years! Can you remember the decade the recipe came from? We’ll do our best to track it down for you. Thanks!