Tomato Sauce With Bacon Recipe

How to make it

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• Coarsely chop the bacon and start it frying over medium heat in a large pot. We want the grease to come out and lube up the pot.
• While bacon is frying, chop up the onion, and drop it in with the bacon after the bacon doesn't look completely raw anymore. Crush the garlic with a big flat knife, and add it in also. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom. Use this time to peel, seed and coarsely chop the tomatoes if you haven't already.
• After the bacon/onion is looking cooked through (10 minutes or so), add the red wine. Stir and scrape all the bits that stuck to the pan off (so they're in the sauce, not stuck to the pan).
• Add the peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped tomatoes to the mix and stir a few times.
• Add a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of water if there doesn't look like there's enough liquid, though the tomatoes will produce more once they get going.
• Add the red pepper flakes, and any dried herbs if you're going to use them instead of fresh. A little dried thyme goes in great here.
• Cover, and simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occaisionally. Add a little bit of water if sauce gets too thick.
• About 30 minutes before you can't stand it any longer, use a hand blender to blend up the tomatoes. The sauce should go from the dark wine color to the nice tomato sauce color too.
• If using fresh herbs, tear the basil leaves into small pieces, and release the oregano leaves from the stems, and toss into the sauce.
• At this point, add the red wine vinegar if you want a nice zing in the sauce.
• Let the sauce simmer the remaining 30 minutes, then use as you please. This recipe made enough to freeze half of it.