This spaghetti sauce is probably the best I've ever made. It's loosely modeled on Jamie Oliver's "Spaghetti with Salami, Fennel and Tomatoes" recipe, which appears in Happy Days with the Naked Chef. And in fact, it's especially good served with sprinklings of fennel fronds and pangritata (crispy rosemary and olive oil breadcrumbs), just as he suggests. But mine substitutes sausage for salami, making it more like the sauce I grew up with in heavily Sicilian and Calabrese northeastern Ohio.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND FENNEL
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 links mild Italian sausage
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
a couple pinches of red pepper flakes
1 fist-sized bulb fennel, halved and sliced thin
1 medium tomato, chopped
14-oz. can diced tomatoes
8-oz. can tomato sauce

Heat a large, deep skillet over a medium flame and add the olive oil. Squeeze the sausage out of its casings and into the pan, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
When the sausage is almost cooked through, add the garlic, red pepper, and fennel. Cook 5 minutes uncovered, stirring often, then reduce heat slightly and cover for an additional 5 minutes.
Add the fresh tomato and cook 5 minutes more, covered.
Now add the can of tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Stir it all together and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes to half an hour. Stir it every so often. When it's cooked down a bit and the flavors have blended, it's ready to use.