Tomato Sauce With Asparagus.

Asparagus, which is native to most of Europe, Africa and western Asia, is a perennial with feathery foliage. The flowers of this plant are bell-shaped and greenish- white in color.
In very early times asparagus was used for culinary purposes, because of it's delicate flavor and as a medicine for it's diuretic purposes. It was widely cultivated and used by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks, who ate it fresh when in season. They also harvested and dried it for use during the winter months.
When I was a child, me and my mother would gather up a couple buckets and head out to the field behind our home, so we could harvest the asparagus growing unattended in between the brush. We would be out there for at least an hour and a half or more and return with way more asparagus than our family could consume. Needless to say are friends and relatives were more than happy to take the extra pickings home with them to enjoy at the dinner table with their families. The reason we had these tasty little spears growing among the weeds in the woods was because, there use to be a huge asparagus farm behind our home way before we ever lived there.

The other day while shopping in the produce department, I decided to pick up a bunch of asparagus, so I could go home and make that mouth watering sauce I haven't tasted since the passing of my dear mother. My husband was very impressed with the results of my sauce. He said it was almost identical to my mom's recipe, which made me very happy. For those of you who would like to try asparagus with sauce, rather than steamed and buttered, I've listed this sauce recipe below.

Ingredients;

3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch of fresh asparagus washed and chopped.

1 Cup of washed and chopped baby bella mushrooms

6 large cloves of minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

2 large cans of crushed tomatoes

1 small can of tomato paste

1 tbs. dried basil

1 tbs. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)

grated cheese (optional)

1) Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add the asparagus, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute for 10 minutes over medium high heat, sirring frequently.
2) Add the minced garlic to the pan and saute for an additional 5 minutes.
3) Once the vegetables have become tender, add all the rest of the ingredients, except for the grated cheese. Bring to a boil, then reduce, heat to medium. Stir well and cover. You may even want to turn your heat down to medium low the last half hour of cooking. Continue to stir occasionally until the sauce is finished. I recommend letting the sauce simmer for an hour to an hour and a half.
When the sauce is complete serve this over your favorite pasta, along side of a salad ,with vinegar and oil and some fresh Italian bread. This is a very healthy comfort meal that the whole family will love.