Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce

My son frequently asks for this one. Not your typical “church spaghetti.”

Ingredients

1 pound Italian sausage
1 yellow onion; chopped
2 cloves of garlic; minced
1 or 2 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (or anise)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper
2 bay leaf
1 pound fresh mushroom
Parmesan cheese ; grated

Instructions

Remove sausage from casings, breaking into small pieces. Cook sausage until browned. Drain thoroughly and reserve about 2 tablespoons of the drippings. In the reserved oil, cook the onion and garlic. Continue cooking until the onion begin to soften.

Add the canned tomatoes and the tomato sauce. With a spoon break the tomatoes into bite size pieces. Add the drained sausage back into the pot along with the seasonings. Cook for about 20 minutes stirring frequently and correcting the seasoning as needed.

Stir in the mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Serve over freshly cooked and drained pasta along with Parmesan cheese.