Spaghetti sauce is a family favourite in the States. My colleagues asked me to make spaghetti sauce after pizza and Chinese food, so I willingly complied with their outrageous demands.

There is a red sauce food chain in Bulgaria. Lyutenitsa is outstanding if it is homemade, better than any spaghetti sauce I have tried. If you have not tried homemade lyutenitsa, then you should really be ashamed of yourself. Homemade lyutenitsa is the ultimate highlight of Bulgarian cuisine. Get out of your cave in the city, go to a village, and do not return until you have a jar of homemade lyutenitsa!

Spaghetti sauce is better than any jar sauce, especially lyutenitsa from the store. Bulgarians like spaghetti sauce, but they always tell me that homemade lyutenitsa is best.

They are brutally honest about my cooking, and this is why I like cooking for them.

Beware, however! Bulgarians will try to use ketchup and mayonnaise with spaghetti and ruin the great taste of spaghetti sauce. I forbid the use of ketchup and mayonnaise, and enforce a strict no wine, no rakia rule if anyone attempts to use these condiments.

Spaghetti sauce can be done in mass quantities and conserved in jars for the winter. For those lucky to have big freezers, spaghetti sauce will keep well in frozen sealed plastic bags for at least three months, sometimes longer.

Garlic Bread is a nice side dish for these sauces. There is a healthy and unhealthy garlic bread method. You choose how healthy you want to be.

However, most of my Bulgarian friends hate garlic bread. The first time I made garlic bread for Bulgarians all three happened to have an intense hatred for it.

These recipes are not authentic Italian recipes. Like most Americans, my ancestry is similar to a Bulgarian stray dog, except that there is no inbreeding.

Enjoy the spaghetti sauce with a nice bottle of red wine, without ketchup and mayonnaise!

Spaghetti Sauce

2kg tomatoes, chopped
3 medium carrots, grated
2-3 peppers, cleaned and chopped finely
2 medium onions, chopped
one head garlic, peeled and minced
1 hot pepper (the really hot ones)
16-20 fresh mushrooms, chopped finely
2-3 large spoonfuls sugar
50-75ml red wine
Basil (bosilek)
Oregano (regan)
Black Pepper
2 Bay Leaves (dafinov list)

Directions: Put 1kg tomatoes and hot pepper into large pot and puree with hand-held mixer until there is only juice. Turn on stove to medium-high heat. Add other ingredients. Add spices to taste. Bring to boil, and continue boiling until chopped tomatoes are boiled down. Stir occasionally. This means that the sauce is thick, but there are no large tomato chunks in your sauce. Cooking time depends on your stove. After tomatoes are boiled down, simmer at lowest heat setting for 90 minutes to two hours. Stir occasionally.

Garlic Toast

5 slices bread
2 large cloves garlic, peeled


Directions: Bake bread in oven at 200°C until bread is lightly brown on both sides. Take bread out of oven, and rub with garlic cloves on both sides. Sprinkle a little salt on each side of bread.

Garlic Bread

8-10 pieces of bread
one small spoonful basil
6-8 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
100g melted butter, or 100ml olive oil

Directions: Mix basil, pressed garlic, and oil together. Pour oil/garlic generously over bread slices with a spoon. Place bread in pan, and bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes, or until bread is lightly brown. Make sure to flip the bread after the first 10 minutes. Bread is done when it is lightly brown.

Joseph Herr is a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer currently working in Balchik. His column appears weekly and he can be contacted at jdherr75@sabreshockey.com