I don’t usually make sauce for my pasta meals, but when I do, this is the one I use. It takes some time, but it is very good and my family loves it. I’ve done quite a few experiments on this recipe to land on the following. I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients
- 1 Carrot (diced)
- 1 Celery stalk (diced)
- 1 onion (diced)
- 10 oz. Mushrooms (cut to bite sized – they’ll shrink during cooking)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb mild italian sausage
- 1/2 cup red cooking wine (or a dry red wine, if you have one open)
- 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
- 1 can (29 oz.) tomato puree
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1-2 whole bay leaves
- 1/3 cups milk (I usually use whole milk, but you could use 2%)
Directions
- In a large pot, add the oil and heat to medium-low. Add the carrot, celery, and onion and cook covered until the onion is transparent.
- Add the mushrooms and the meats. Increase the heat to medium and break up the meat as it browns.
- Once the meat has browned, turn up the heat to high. Add the wine and cook for about a minute until the alcohol has boiled off.
- Decrease the heat to medium-low and mix in the tomato paste, puree, salt, pepper, red pepper, and bay leaves. Gradually reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and let it simmer for three hours (the mixture should not boil). Stir occasionally.
- After the three hours, remove the bay leaves, add the milk, and heat for a couple of minutes. It’s ready to serve.