Salami Sauce

I ask you, what does one do with 8 pounds of salami? Our dear friend, Fr. Guglielmo Lauriola was being gifted with so much salami, among other comestibles, that he insisted I take some off his hands. He said refrigeration would make it hard. Okay, so I stored some in a cool dark place. We're trying to watch our salt intake, so it needed to be diluted in some way and not just eaten in chunks, which we have been known to do. That's when I came up with the salami sauce idea. Surely some Italian, somewhere over the centuries, must have resorted to this type of use for salami.

Ingredients:
1 salami chub
1 medium yellow onion
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic
1T extra virgin olive oil
1t dried basil
1 can Del Monte tomato sauce
1 large can chopped tomatoes
1 large can of water (by proportion not measurement)
1/4C chopped Italian parsley

Directions:

Since the salami was difficult enough to peel, I decided to go with the big guns and use the Cuisinart. If the salami is on the drier side, you will really need a processor of some sort. Otherwise thin slicing and mincing will work.

Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Set aside, then heat the olive oil in a 6 quart pot over low heat. Saute the onion in the oil until translucent, then add the basil and garlic and mix thoroughly.

The salami can be added and stirred into the mixture. Saute for 2 minutes over a medium high heat to try and caramelize. Then lower the heat to a simmer.

Crush and add the dried porcini, then stir to incorporate and scrape the bottom of the pot clean so nothing burns while you simmer the sauce.

Add the chopped tomatoes. If you can't find any, use stewed tomatoes as a reasonable substitute. Add the small can of Del Monte and stir ingredients together.

The sauce is thick now so thin it out so it will be able to cook for enough time to create a nice depth of flavor. I always add water; never liked wine in pasta sauce. It will evaporate during the cooking process. Don't be timid add a large can of water.

After adding the water, add the chopped parsley, stir, cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Check the pot every 10 minutes and stir, so nothing sticks to the bottom and burns. Uncover and cook until you like the consistency.