Pasta

As many of you know, we LOVE pasta. Spaghetti seams to be the noodle of choice these days. Luke and I love fresh tomato sauce. Joshua only eats it if it's "basil pasta". John loves the meat sauce. I'm going to share my favorite meat and tomato sauces...

Tomato Sauce:

This couldn't be more basic and it is so yummy.

2 lbs tomatoes, chopped with their juices (I love the sweet campari tomatoes from Costco - I think any sweet tomato makes this sauce extra yummy)
3-8 tbsp olive oil (I know that's a large range. I tend to go light - maybe 4, but traditionally more is used.)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 tbsp water
salt, pepper, basil

1. Heat oil in sauce pan, add onion and cool until translucent 5-8 minutes
2. Stir in tomatoes, their juices, water, and garlic.
3. Season with salt and pepper and add basil
4. Cook 30 minutes.
5. Puree - I use a hand puree tool, you could use a food processor. I discard the skins that get stuck in the blade.

I usually add red pepper flakes with the onion and oil because we like our sauce spicy.


****The most important thing to super yummy pasta is shorten the cooking time on your noodles. I mean if the box says 12 minutes, it's done in no longer than 6 minutes. For spaghetti, when it's still raw just barely in the middle drain and toss with sauce and by the time it hits your mouth it's perfect. I don't think I even go 6 minutes, maybe as short as 4 - but it's always by taste.****


Meat Sauce:

This sauce is delicious, but it is a bit labor intensive.

2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 tbs pancetta (unsmoked bacon), finely chopped
2-3 carrots, finely sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
12 oz 8% fat ground beef
12 oz reduced fat ground pork sausage
salt and pepper
1 1/3 cup red wine
1 cup milk
280z canned plum tomatoes, chopped (or squished with your fingers :)), which their juice
2 bay leafs
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Here's the way I do it.
1. with a bit of oil, brown meat (season with salt and pepper) in big pot and then take out and set aside.
2. In the same pot, heat oil and butter. Add onion and cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes.
3. Add pancetta and cook until onion is translucent.
4. Stir in the carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook another 3-4 minutes.
5. While that is cooking finely finely chop up your ground meat until it's super tincy.
6. Add meat back to pot.
7. Pour in the wine, raise heat, and cook until liquid evaporates. 3-4 minutes.
8. Add milk and cook until liquid evaporates.
9. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice and the herbs. Bring sauce to boil
10. Reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2-2 hours.
11. Check seasoning before serving.

Now if the meat you buy gets super fine and crumbly without having to chop, you could do steps 2-4. Then add meat and crumble it into the veggies until you see no red. Then proceed to step 7 and finish.