We are proud to bring you this authentic Italian spaghetti recipe from scratch comes from the beautiful country of Italy. This homemade spaghetti sauce recipe embraces the Northern Italian style of using fresh ingredients with very little spice. You will be amazed at the difference in texture and taste than that of pasta you have sampled before in the past.
Growing up in an Italian/Sicilian family
I am a lucky lady 3 out of 4 of my grandparents were full-blooded Italian. I have both the northern and southern regions of Italy in my ancestry profile. My patron grandfather was from Calabria and my matron grandmother was from Veneto. They both influenced my love for authentic Italian cuisine. My grandfather used dark meat chicken and garlic and onion in a thick red sauce that simmered all day. My grandmother makes an old-fashioned Italian spaghetti sauce recipe with meat that bolsters beautiful natural flavor. The sauce we prepared for this article was a northern base sauce we added some spices to it to make it our own.
Northern Italian vs. Southern Italian Cuisine
There are vast differences between northern Italian cuisine and southern Italian cuisine. Northern Italians have more access to cattle. They cook risotto and polenta and use milk in their sauces occasionally. They use butter where the southern Italians use olive oil. The south uses garlic and spices to give their dishes zest the north uses basic spice. In the south, Italians use red wine in the north they use red and white wine.
The typical Italian cuisine that is popular in the united states is modeled after the southern Italian style of cooking. That is why we wanted to share this recipe with our audience. We feel it is a way to develop the Northern Italian style at home. If you want to go wild with spices live it up and it will morph into a fantastic southern Italian dish.
Cooking this authentic Italian spaghetti recipe is a wonderful, yet timely experience. If you’ve ever seen the movie Goodfellas, you’ll remember the scene where Ray Liotta’s character is going to get busted but he’s more interested in making sure his spaghetti sauce is perfect. Too funny! Our recipe takes quite a bit of patience. You’ll need to babysit a pan of sauce for a long period of time, making sure to stir every 15 minutes or so. Trust me, the pay off was well worth it.
To make this dish work you will need a large pot for all that Italian spaghetti goodness.
Making our homemade Italian spaghetti sauce
The only thing that would make this dish even better would be the use of authentic fresh tomatoes direct from Italy. Unfortunately, I live in the United States so there is an alternative.
If you want your sauce to taste like real authentic Italian spaghetti, the key is to use San Marzano tomatoes. Make sure you purchase the Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese Nocerino D.O.P. brand. These tomatoes are unique in the fact that they grow in the rich volcanic soil of the Sarno River valley, near Mount Vesuvius.
To prepare the spaghetti sauce, we begin by browning the onion, carrot, and celery. I know what you’re probably thinking. Yes, carrot and celery are used in traditional pasta from Northern Italy.
Meats of Italy
Next, we move on to the meats. This recipe incorporates pancetta, beef, and pork sausage. These meats are also fantastic for injecting rich flavors into the sauce.
One of the things that became obvious to me was the reliance on natural flavors instead of heavy spices. Northern Italians tend to shy away from relying on spices in their sauce.
We recently had some family come in from Northern Italy. They wanted to try American food such as steak and hamburger but we very insistent on the food being prepared with very little spice.
Finishing our Italian spaghetti recipe
If you really wanted to be authentic, you would make your own spaghetti noodles. With the right equipment, this is actually very easy. For this recipe, we will use store-bought noodles.
Once we sampled the finished product, we were all amazed at how different this style was compared to the American version of spaghetti sauce recipes that we were used to. We all love homemade home cooked meals and everyone in the family said that we need to make this again and again.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A HEALTHIER OPTION TO THIS ITALIAN SPAGHETTI RECIPE, PLEASE VISIT OUR LOW CARB ITALIAN SPAGHETTI RECIPE
We hope you enjoyed our version of authentic Italian spaghetti sauce. We would love to hear from you in the comment section below and we encourage you to share this on your social media platform of choice.
