Italian Pear Tomato Meatless Sauce ( you can use regular tomatoes also)

Ingredients:

In a 2-3 quart pot, heat 1/8 cup of olive oil on high then put in the following ingredients and reduce heat to medium.

1 green pepper diced fine
1 medium white or yellow onion diced fine
2 carrots diced fine
2 stalks of celery diced fine
3 cloves of crush garlic
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes Directions

Sauté until a little translucent ( about 15-20 minutes). Then add, crushed from your hands in a bowl first, 2-12 ounce cans of peeled Italian pear tomatoes (regular tomatoes will do)reserving juice, straining it to catch any seeds and stir in 1 can of 6-8 oz.. Of tomato paste.

Add 1-12oz. Puree. Hey, look out, we have it going!

Add: 1/8 cup chopped basil
1 tsp. oregano (some people don't use this in their sauce)
2 tsp. thyme
a small pinch of sage
1 tsp. nutmeg (secret)
3 tbs.. Sugar
2 tbs.. Salt
2 tbs.. Pepper

Add strained tomato juice to thin this out, a little, not too much. Bring the heat up to high, until semi-boiling. Then reduce, cover and simmer for about an hour. Then add 1/2 cup of red wine and simmer for another 15 minutes. Taste this and see if this is up to your standards. If not, you may want to readjust to your taste with a little pinch of salt and pepper, or really any of the ingredient's from above. But be careful though, never add not too much of one thing! When cooking, you never want to add too much of this or that because, all the ingredient's have to taste and come together as one. Not one item over powers the other. If you really want to be a little daring, drop a few (2 or 3) anchovies in with the olive oil before sautéing vegetables! They will disintegrate and become part of the dish. And everyone will say, " oh my God, this is really good and there is a flavor in there I can't put my finger on!" And if they knew you put a couple of anchovies in there, they probably wouldn't believe it and definitely not put their fingers on them (I LOVE THEM)! Again, the secret to anything you are cooking is not letting one thing over power another. I can't stress this enough.

Store this in a container in your refrigerator for use in the recipes I will give you throughout the week,or store, in portions in containers, and put them in the freezer, or go ahead and boil some pasta and just add some sauce, chopped fresh parsley and some grated cheese and enjoy.

Finally, if you have your family coming home from work and/or play, be sure to move anything that might be in their pathway to the kitchen. You don't want anyone to hurt themselves when they get disoriented! They may fall over something because their noses will be in the air following that troppo romantico aroma. You will dizzy their first step they take inside your home with aromas that have permeated Italian homes for centuries! They might even begin to sing Oh Sole Mio!! Ya never know, Mama Mia!!!