It's amazing how many different "traditional" tomato sauces have been handed down in Italian families! My family is Sicilian, and my grandmother, mother, and aunts all made their sauce the same way, and I do, too. In your "sauce pot" (generally not used for anything else!), brown meatballs, chunks of pork and beef, a few sausages until not quite cooked. At the last minute, add a clove of garlic cut into large pieces and smash it into the hot oil until browned. Remove and discard most of the garlic and transfer the meats to a platter, discard most of the oil, but leave all the browned bits in the bottom. Add two 28oz. cans of Redpack crushed tomatoes in puree, one 28oz. can Redpack puree, and one can full of water, salt, pepper and fresh basil torn with your fingers. Bring it all to a boil, carefully add the meat back into the pot, and rinse off the platter that held the meat with a little water and add that to the sauce. Bring it back to a boil, then simmer slowly, partially covered and stirring often for at least two hours. Add a little more fresh basil at the end. I don't know why it had to be Redpack tomatoes, but I have never tried to tamper with success! I also know that no one ever added sugar to their sauce, and using onions would have been cause for getting the evil eye! Amazingly, my sauce tastes the same as my Grandma's and Mom's, and every time I make it I am transported back to Sunday mornings after church, sauce bubbling on the stove, my brother stealing meatballs behind Mom's back. I believe that every time we make a family recipe we bring back all the generations before us, and they are with us at the stove, stirring the sauce, baking the cookies, and stealing the meatballs!

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