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The Most Delicious Weeknight Spaghetti Sauce

When you think of Italian food, you immediately think of all things tomato.

For starters you think tomato sauce, pizza, and bruschetta, which is toasted bread topped with a tomato mixture

But, is everything as it seems?

Tomatoes and Italian food seem to go hand-in-hand.

But did you know that tomatoes are not indigenous to Italy.

Cue the record skip.

Tomatoes are Native to South America

In fact tomatoes are native to South America and were discovered by Spanish explorers. They took the seeds back to Europe where they discovered tomatoes grow well in the warm Meditteranean climate.

They called this delicious new discovery, Pomodoro, or the “golden apple”.

But here’s what’s interesting.

For Centuries Admired for Their Beauty, But Not Eaten

For centuries people admired the beauty of the tomato. They grew them in greenhouse, set them on their tables as ornamentals, think the small, cherry sized tomatoes.

But they refused to eat them.

Because they thought they were poisonous. Tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family of plants some of which will kill you.

But somehow the Spanish-promulgated tomatoes made their way to Italy who embraced this now cherished fruit.

Beyond Italy it seems every continent had a proponent of the lovely tomato and not as a killer, but as a beautiful fruit to be enjoyed in multiple ways.

One was Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson who in 1830 sat on the steps of his local courthouse and ate a basket of tomatoes. People gathered excepting a spectacle of death.

Yet he lived.

Today the Tomato and Spaghetti Sauce is Considered as American as Apple Pie

And, today the tomato is considered as American as apple pie.

We eat 28.7 pounds of tomatoes per person each year.

My favorite way to enjoy this fruit is with homemade spaghetti sauce.

It was my favorite dish as a kid. My mother made a fantastic sauce with meatballs that I could never get enough of.

There’s just something about a plate of spaghetti noodles slathered in a winsome sauce that does it for me.

What cares?

What worries?

Give This Delicious Spaghetti Sauce a Try on a Weeknight

Give my simple sauce a try. It’s so easy you can assemble it at home after work. It only needs an hour to simmer.

So busy yourself with something around the house while it cooks and let the aroma soothe your busy life.

Need a recipe idea? Try it in Baked Ziti.