| Frugal Café Site Search: |
Giada De Laurentiis's Homemade Italian Sauce
Compiled by Vicki McClure Davidson
Popular and sexy Food Network TV chef Giada De Laurentiis is extremely talented in the kitchen — an instinctive cook — and the granddaughter of film producer Dino De Laurentiis. She began her professional training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and has held positions as a food magazine stylist for upscale magazines like Food & Wine, and cooked at the prestigious Ritz Carlton Fine Dining Room and Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills.
Later, Giada founded GDL Foods, a catering company in Los Angeles. She has hosted several popular Food Network cable programs, including Everything Italian and Giada's Weekend Getaways. Spokesperson for Barilla, the world's largest producer and manufacturer of pasta. She has been a recurring guest chef on the Today Show.
Her first cookbook, Everyday Italian, showcased many of the delicious Italian recipes from her cooking show of the same name; her second cookbook, Giada's Family Dinners, quickly became a #1 New York Times best-seller, as did her third cookbook, Everyday Pasta.
This is Giada's recipe for authentic, homemade Italian sauce (often called "gravy" by Italian-Americans).
The ingredients are inexpensive and make a delicious batch of sauce. The ease of making your own Italian sauce should prompt many to no longer buy canned or bottled sauce, and go the more frugal and low-sodium route with homemade.
Leftover sauce can be frozen. After making Guida's sauce, you may feel creative and want to experiment using additional herbs and spices.
Giada De Laurentiis's Homemade Italian Sauce
- 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 small onions, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- 2 32-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 dried bay leaves
In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper.
Sauté until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Makes about 2 quarts.
Related Reading and Recipes:
Pasta Perfection: How to Cook Pasta Perfectly Every Time
Pesto, Salsa di Pomodoro Crudo, and Other Easy No-Cook Sauces for Hot Pasta: 12 Tantalizing, Thrifty Recipes & Preparation Tips
Winging It: Three Hot Wings Sauce Recipes: Supreme Hot Wings, Hooters' Copy-Cat Hot Wings, & Honey Hot Wings
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Common Sense & Frugality: Let's Bring Back Home Economic Classes
Frugal Kitchen Tips: More Bang for Your Buck... Keep Your Spices and Dried Herbs Fresh Longer
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Celebration of Awesome Autumn & Oktoberfest Food Edition, with Frugal Recipes
Celebrity Recipes: Jamie Oliver's Spaghetti with Olive Oil, Garlic, Chilli, and Parsley
Celebrity Recipes: Giada De Laurentiis's Watermelon with Watercress and Feta
Celebrity Recipes: Gary Sinese's Kids' Pasta
Celebrity Recipes: Lillian Hellman's Basil and Clam Sauce
Celebrity Recipes: Jamie Oliver's Jools' Favorite Saturday Afternoon Pasta
Celebrity Recipes: Jay Leno's Uncle Louie's Chicken Wings Marinara
Celebrity Recipes: Aretha Franklin's Holiday Meat Loaf
Celebrity Recipes: Paula Deen's Grape-Nuts Pudding
Celebrity Recipes: Trisha Yearwood's Chicken Pizza
Celebrity Recipes: Jessica Alba's Chicken Enchiladas
Celebrity Recipes: Maya Angelou's Groundnut Stew
Chefs' Culinary Secrets & Cooking Philosophies: Cooking Demonstration Videos
Baking Soda... From Frugal Cleaner to Thrifty Freshener to Beauty Aid, So Many Cheap, Easy, & Effective Uses
The Truth about Tomatoes
Walk on the Wild Side: Frugal Dandelion Greens Recipes
Meat Mania: 9 Things You Should Know When Cooking & Working with Meats
Chefs' Culinary Secrets & Cooking Philosophies | Jamie Oliver & Giada De Laurentiis
Second Time Around: Smart, Frugal Ways to Reuse & Recycle Things around the House
<< Back to Directory of Collection of Celebrities' Frugal Recipes
Source: Esquire, "Giada De Laurentiis Loves Tomatoes," (www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/delaurentiis0807), July 19, 2007.