Slow Cooker Italian Sauce

Terri Schmitz remembers when she brought her rich, savory, meaty “Italian Sauce” to a potluck where she worked. One of the men would not try it because in his culture if a man doesn’t see the woman making the sauce he would be afraid that a “love spell” would be cast on him.

I have been dreaming about creating a batch of it very soon myself. It sounds so full of flavor, alluringly aromatic and colorfully appetizing — I think I’m already under its spell.

Serve this versatile sauce with your favorite type of pasta. Terri has used it in lasagna, over cheese-stuffed manicotti, with ravioli, penne — you name it. The recipe makes enough for a large family-size meal — plus. It also freezes very well.

Terri developed this recipe herself over time and has been preparing it for more than 20 years. She shared it in “Come to the Table,” the centennial cookbook published in 2010 by Holy Cross Church in Onamia, Minnesota, where her parents, Dennis and Mary McColley, are parishioners. CJK

Slow Cooker Italian Sauce

(Terri Schmitz)

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. hot Italian sausage, ground*            

1 lb. ground beef

Photo by Bill Vossler

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

8 oz. fresh mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

1/4 cup capers

1 (2.25 oz.) can sliced black olives

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Pour a small amount of olive oil into a large Dutch oven set on medium heat. When pan is hot, crumble Italian sausage and ground beef into oil; add onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until brown. Drain. Add peppers, mushrooms, capers and olives. Heat until peppers and mushrooms are tender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, sugar, herbs and spices.

At this point, you could choose to heat the sauce to boiling, reduce to low and simmer for several hours on the stovetop.

Or — spray the crock liner of a slow cooker with no-stick spray. Pour the sauce into the stoneware crock, set the temperature on “low” and simmer for 8 to 10 hours.

Yield: 16 servings

A note from Terri: When I prepare this sauce in a slow cooker I chop the vegetables the night before, then cook the meat and mix the ingredients before leaving the house in the morning.

The sausage you use will dictate the flavor of your sauce. Make sure you know how much seasoning is in it. I typically use a mixture of hot Italian sausage and ground beef but, at times, have used all hot sausage. Also, if you can’t find bulk sausage, use links — just slice them or remove the casing.

A note from Carol: Terri, the revenue manager for the Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel & Casino, moved to Puerto Rico in March 2010. She fell in love with the “Island of Enchantment” and its interesting history during her interview for the hotel. Both the El Morro and San Cristobal fortresses are in Old San Juan as well as the Cathedral de San Juan , where Ponce de Leon’s remains are entombed, and the convent used in the opening of the “Flying Nun,” which is now a hotel.

A member of St. Francis Parish in Old San Juan, Terri is the mother of four adult children and grandmother to two. She grew up in Faribault, Minnesota, but has fond memories of spending school vacations and summers near Onamia, where her maternal grandparents, Albert Sr. and Selma Hein, were longtime members of Holy Cross Parish.

At one time, Selma was a cook for the Crosier Community. Terri credits Selma for teaching her how to cook, can and sew. She particularly remembers her grandmother’s homemade lefse and hamburger buns, donuts with mashed potatoes in the batter and “sugar cookies to die for!”

“Come to the Table” cookbooks may be purchased at the church after the weekend Masses for $10 each or may be ordered by calling the parish office at 320-532-3122 or sending an email to hconamiaparishoffice@yahoo.com. (An additional $4.95 shipping and handling will be added to mail the cookbooks.)