I think we’ve wandered off the topic of pasta sauce, but my favourite deli sometimes has beautiful steaks (either striploin or rib eye, I can’t remember) in a deeply flavourful coffee-based marinade with, I believe, red wine and a variety of spices. It’s just heavenly stuff! It’s the same place that makes the amazingly mellow semplice pasta sauce.
I start by sauteeing 2 cloves of garlic in butter & olive oil, and then add a couple slices of onion to that. Once sauteed, I add a pound of Italian sausage and brown that and drain. Then i add a jar of Mids marinara and taste as i go. Sometimes It needs a little tbsp of sugar if it tastes sour, but always a quarter cup of cabernet or other dry red wine. Enjoy!
This is pretty much what I do, and I make it in big batches. I add oregano, basil and Parmesan cheese. If it gets too thick, I add chicken broth as needed. It’s so simple and good, I don’t think I’d go back to jarred sauce.
Canned anchovy filets, minced fine. An umami bomb that will dissolve into the sauce, no one will notice any fish flavor. 2-3 filets per quart of sauce.
I shred the onion on my cheese grater, and if I have some real Parmigiano-Reggiano on hand, I toss the rind in while it simmers.
You beat me to it. Nothing ruins spaghetti sauce for me more than trying to add too many ingredients to it. I hate all jarred sauces except for Rao’s, and I’ve only bought that once because it’s too expensive to buy regularly, especially since I can make a sauce I already like by myself. My other go-to sauce is good canned tomatoes (the most important part of any tomato sauce),olive oil, garlic, hot pepper flakes, salt, finish with parsley for arrabiata. Or add to that diced olives, anchovies, and capers for puttanesca. Keep it relatively clean and simple. I don’t like putting in dried Italian seasoning. It makes it taste muddy to me. We’re making pasta sauce, not curry here, it’s not time to get the entire spice cabinet out. I’ll sometimes do dried oregano or fresh basil, but not usually both. I won’t be caught dead with dried basil. I generally won’t combine garlic and onion. I mainly want to taste tomatoes with a few accents.
Garlic. Think you got enough in there? Nah. More Garlic is always the answer.
I toss in one of them little yellow peppers and a Bay Leaf too. And then more Garlic
Kiss Me. You won’t regret it!
Mmmm..garlic kisses 
Next time you’re at the market, have a look for Stefano’s pasta sauce. It’s only just been introduced out here. It’s from Montreal, so should be available in your location. Not as expensive as Rao’s, more expensive than Prego or Ragu. I cannot compare it to Rao’s, as I’ve never had that, but it’s a damn sight better than Prego or Ragu. I tried Stefano’s Arabbiata the other night, and quite liked it.
More pertinent to the thread, I’ve always found that the Godfather pasta sauce (yes, the one described in the movie) is perfectly fine on its own. Plus, it makes a great starting point, if you want to add other things.
Regarding sugar in pasta sauce, a friend made his own sauce. Though I cannot remember his recipe, it was really good. “A little of this, a little of that,” is the way he approached it. But he always said that it needed sugar. “Takes the edge off the bite of the tomatoes.” I cannot remember how much he used, as he’d make a few quarts at a time, but based on what I saw, I’d suggest that you don’t use more than one tablespoon per four quarts.
Italian traditionalist: You should not add “ingredients.” It has to be kept simple. The best tomato sauce starts from the best tomatoes: San Marzano. Buy whole peeled San Marzano and cook them down slowly with the lid on. Takes about an hour. Flavors added should be fresh garlic and optionally a chopped onion sautéed in olive oil, basil, and salt. Don’t forget the salt.
Basil absolutely makes a difference and it belongs in the sauce. I will allow up to a teaspoon of brown sugar to adjust the flavor balance, but San Marzano tomatoes are naturally sweeter and don’t need any added sugar, especially if there’s onion, which is also sweet.
As a matter of fact, I much praised Stefano’s in another thread here some years ago, thanks for reminding me! It’s at least as good as Rao’s and some varieties, notably the sausage and mushroom, decidedly better than anything from Rao’s. As you note, it’s from Montreal, Canada’s food Mecca – how could it be anything other than excellent! Probably not helpful to our American friends, though. I don’t know what put me on to Rao’s but I’m getting a couple of jars of Stefano’s next time!
The thing is, unless you get your tomatoes fresh - picked within the past 24 hours - it’s actually better to go with high-quality canned. That’s because they’re actually fresher, as they’re canned immediately after they’re picked, and the freshness “timer” stops when they get put in a can.
Personally, I use Mutti crushed tomatoes.
Garlic powder.
Frozen garlic puree is better.
A Fellow Italian-American here.
Your recipe is similar to mine. I use 28 oz of crushed tomatoes, 15 oz of tomato sauce, and 6 oz of tomato paste. Onion, garlic, basil, and oregano. It’s simple and tastes so much better than the jarred sauce. Add seasoned (the same seasonings that are in the sauce), browned ground beef to make meat sauce, or throw in some meatballs. I never brown or fry my meatballs; they cook in the sauce.
I really like a mix of meatballs and some parboiled sweet Italian sausages. The sausages are easy enough, though one more thing to clean. The meatballs are beyond my meager cooking skill and I use frozen ones.
Another treat is just add ricotta cheese to the sauce, super easy and oh so good. The smaller 15oz containers are plenty for 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes and the better part of the 32oz container when I’m making 2 cans worth. You add the ricotta when the sauce is basically done or mix the sauce into the drained pasta and add the cheese and mix. Especially good with shells where the cheesy sauce gets inside.
Meatballs aren’t hard to make. It’s basically like making a meatloaf with Italian seasonings - basil, oregano, garlic, egg, grated parm, and seasoned bread crumbs or what my grandma always used - wet bread. Roll them into balls (we make ours egg-shaped) and drop them in the hot sauce. Simmer for about an hour.
Yes, canned is almost always better. My favorite brand (but not the one I always get) is Bianco DiNapoli. They are Californian-grown plums, but just as good as any DOP San Marzano’s I’ve ever had. My close friend who was born and grew up through his teens in Naples swears by them, too.
I’m also on team “there is such a thing as too much garlic.” I love garlic, but many American-style tomato sauces just have way too much garlic. Like loads too much. I’ve also never ever found a need to add sugar to a sauce, but my tastes do skew a little more towards preferring acidity to sweetness, so it’s possible I haven’t notice overly acidic sauces. The absolute biggest thing I hate about most jarred sauces is their sweetness.
FYI Sugarfire in St Louis offers a coffee BBQ sauce available through Amazon