notes
my go-to tomato meat sauce base!
works best in a slow cooker, but slow cooking is not necessary (for the ground beef edition at least). Freezes excellently.
default recipe makes 8-10 servings (depends on how much sauce you use. I use a below-average amount per pasta portion so it lasts me longer)
ingredients
- 2lbs beef
- either a chuck roast for a ragu sauce, or lean (90%) ground beef for bolognese.
- 4 shallots
- 1 small can tomato paste (6oz)
- most recipes online seem to call for a lot less, but it seems to not make enough of a difference to justify wasting most of the can…
- 1 large can (28oz) San Marzano peeled tomatoes
- 1 Trader Joe’s Mirepoix (14.5oz diced onion/carrot/celery mix)
- 1 cup red wine
- this is surprisingly important, but if you can’t source or consume wine you can cope with a bit of red wine vinegar and beef broth.
- i usually don’t measure, just pour based on vibes.
- quality of wine does not matter much, any dry high-tannin wine with earthy notes (typically a cabernet sauvignon) will do!
- splash of worcestershire sauce
- pasta
- any shape will do. I personally like rigatoni the most and fettuccine the second most.
- or, make lasagna!
- healthy dose of italian seasoning
- some nutmeg
- 3 bay leaves (fresh or dried ok)
- handful of thyme (fresh or dried ok)
- black pepper
- red chili flakes (optional but recommended, this sauce tastes extra good if made spicy)
- parmesan (fresh, grated)
- hint: you can buy an olive garden style cheese grater online for like $10. life changing. never use dry kraft parmesan again.
- fresh parsley
steps
- dice garlic and shallots.
- sear/brown the vegetables (mirepoix, garlic, shallots) and meat.
- add all of the other ingredients.
- season with a generous amount of salt.
- slow cook on the ‘high’ setting for 4 hours.
- if using regular pot, simmer on low and stir every 30 minutes.
- once done, taste and adjust with additional salt/pepper/chili flakes as necessary.
- to serve with pasta:
- finely chop some parsley
- boil pasta to slightly before al dente, don’t dump the pasta water yet!
- scoop sauce into a pan and heat until simmering
- add a couple scoops of pasta water and reduce
- add hot pasta and combine
- remove from heat, then top with parsley, black pepper, and grated parmesan