nunny's tomato sauce

From the countless orders of "hillbilly nachos" on election night through a week in LA where my Friday night consisted of a personal order of a Crispy Crust "hot a sweet" (that's pizza with pepperoni, jalepeños and pineapple, dear god) that I binged on Nick's couch while watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, my eating habits since that monster was named president-elect have been...not great.

It felt good to get a serving of kale when I finally got myself to a sweetgreen on my last day in sunny LA but as soon as I stepped off the plane in New York it was pouring and cold and the outside felt as dark as most of us feel inside. I needed some real, homemade comfort food. Not junk comfort. Home comfort. Which in our apartment has come to mean Chicken Tortilla Soup. In the year it's been in rotation Adam and I eat this probably once a week and as soon as we've defrosted the last of it, I make it again.

After taking care of the present, I stepped into the past and yesterday, my second day home, I made the recipe that most represents the flavors of my childhood: Nunny's Tomato Sauce. My mom always worked so my Nunny - my mom's mom - watched us every day after school and made us dinner. Four nights out of five, that was usually some kind of pasta -  ziti and spinach lasagna being the most common. My sister and I both loved the spinach lasagna and once right after taking it out of the oven, Nunny dropped it on the floor. Meme and I wanted to eat it anyway and I think we even went so far as to take forks to the ground before being shooed out of the kitchen where Nun probably ordered a pizza or I don't know - made us hot dogs or something. This was possibly during the phase when no matter was for dinner my brother, Jake, would just eat a microwaved hot dog anyway. Jake's got quite a refined palate now and is an excellent cook in his own right - just further going to prove that like my favorite blogger, Molly Yeh, who would only eat lunchables as a child,  it doesn't matter how picky you are in your youth, you will most-likely grow out of it and possibly even go on to write Saveur's Magazine's blog of the year.

In case you're looking for a little comfort of your own - here's how you can bring my Nunny into your kitchen -

Nunny's Tomato Sauce

- 3 tbsp olive oil

- 1 medium onion, chopped

- 4 cloves garlic, chopped

- handful of basil, chopped

- 2 tbsp (stems) fresh oregano, removed from stem and chopped

Heat olive oil in heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add garlic, cook for a minute or so. Add onion, let soften (about 10 minutes). Add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

Once onion is quite soft. Add basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add

- two 6oz cans tomato paste (plus one, maybe two 6oz cans of water)

- one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

- one 15 oz can tomato sauce

- 1 bay leaf

Cook on Medium-Low for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper as needed. Remove bay leaf when finished.

I freeze this recipe in 2-cup portions then de-frost as needed to use as an easy base for Bolognese (Brown one lb ground beef, remove from pan and drain. Cook one medium onion and one glove garlic (both chopped) in olive oil. Add shavings of one carrot (optional). When veg is soft add meat back into pan with two cups tomato sauce. Cook over medium heat until warm. Serve over pasta) Shakshuka (recipe here), Tuna Pasta (sounds weird, but actually awesome - just add a can of tuna when you are reheating and serve over penne). Lasagna and more.

Tortilla Soup and Tomato Sauce in freezer - ready for winter!