Contest-winning sauces steeped in simplicity

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There are certain things that belong in a good tomato sauce – tomatoes, for starters, garlic, maybe some onions and herbs. A little love doesn’t hurt, either. That was Dan Manzo’s secret ingredient when he won the inaugural Bangor Daily News Tomato Sauce Cookoff last year.

But honey, seasoning mix and pepperoni?

This year’s judges weren’t having any of that. During a tasting at Nostrano in Bar Harbor, Italian chef Frank Pendola, foodie-scholar Laura Lindenfeld and I sampled 15 sauces, down from last year’s 40. The “secret ingredients” were tamer than last year’s Splenda, peanut butter and coffee. This year’s entrants added a little intrigue with steak, brown sugar and cloves.

That said, simplicity ruled again with the garden-fresh sauce prepared by grand prize winner Mary O’Shea of Orland.

“You don’t have to be Italian, you just have to know how to cook,” Pendola said when O’Shea’s Irish-sounding name was revealed.

For the judges, it was love at first bite. One liked the “bright” flavor while another praised the balanced seasoning. When Lindenfeld saw the ingredients list, she was convinced.

“This person has vegetables from her own garden – I like that,” Lindenfeld said. “What it boils down to is really good tomatoes treated right.”

O’Shea would have to agree. For her award-winning entry, she uses a base recipe from Nancy Harmon Jenkins’ book “Flavors of Tuscany,” then adds homemade pesto, fresh herbs, red wine and tomato paste. The result is award-worthy.

“I’ve been making tomato sauce for a very long time, but since I started making this kind, I’ve never used any other recipe,” she said.

In the meat category, Pagan Birmingham of Old Town took first prize for her rich tomato sauce packed with hamburger and hot Italian sausage. It was the clear winner.

Though we hadn’t planned to, we awarded an honorable mention to Paula Spacco of Hampden, whose marinara won us over with its rich, almost meaty flavor. She, too, used garden-fresh vegetables and herbs, including cinnamon basil, as well as a heaping spoonful of family tradition.

“I learned to make sauce from my grandmother and my aunt Rosie,” she explained.

Fortunately, nobody tried to pull the wool over our eyes with Ragu this year.

We were tough – burned tomato paste automatically got the boot, as did sauces that didn’t cook long enough for the flavors to meld. But we were also lucky – this year’s cooks really shone. Our winners should be proud – Pendola, an unapologetic purist who spends many a weekend making “Sunday gravy” in his kitchen, raved about O’Shea’s signature sauce.

“If I went to somebody’s house and they served me that tomato sauce, I would be happy to eat that pasta,” said Pendola, who is relentless in his pursuit of culinary perfection.

Lindenfeld agreed.

“It’s a really classic-tasting sauce.”

But don’t take our word for it – cook up a batch of our two top winning sauces. We’re sure you’ll agree.

Mary O’Shea’s Marvelous Marinara

10 pounds ripe paste tomatoes (she uses Amish Paste and Grandma Mary’s Paste varieties)

1 large bulb garlic

6 onions (red and yellow mix)

4 small stalks celery with lots of leaves (fresh celery, available at farmers markets, is much smaller and more flavorful than the supermarket variety. In a pinch, you can substitute 1 stalk supermarket celery)

3 large carrots

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Freezer Pesto (recipe follows)

1/4 cup red wine

1 teaspoon fennel seed

4 tablespoons tomato paste

A handful of fresh basil leaves, shredded

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

Sea salt and cracked pepper, to taste

Coarsely chop first five ingredients and combine in a large stock pot for an hour or so, until vegetables are soft. Put through a tomato press and simmer for an hour, or until sauce thickens. This base can be frozen for future use.

Take 4 quarts of the base sauce and add pesto, red wine, fennel seed, tomato paste, basil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Simmer until satisfied with the flavor and texture (this should take several hours).

Freezer Pesto:

1-2 cups basil leaves (O’Shea uses enough to fill the bowl of her food processor)

1/2 cup olive oil

1 whole bulb garlic, peeled (or to taste)

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Leftovers can be frozen.

Pagan Birmingham’s Super Spaghetti Sauce

3 pounds lean hamburger

1 sleeve Jimmy Dean Sausage

1 package hot sausage links

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 package fresh sliced mushrooms

3 29-ounce cans tomato sauce plus 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 12-ounce can tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried sweet basil

1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning

1/4 cup sugar

Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Slice and saute hot sausage links until cooked thoroughly. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, scramble hamburger, Jimmy Dean sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic until hamburger and sausage are cooked through and vegetables are tender. Once cooked, add hot sausage and all remaining ingredients into the hamburger mixture. Simmer on low to medium low for a minimum of 3-4 hours. For best results simmer all day long.