Recipe for today

This is a recipe I developed over several years

Meat sauce

1 lb of leanest ground beef

2 sweet Italian sausages (take out of casings and crumble) or 1/4 lb bulk

2 hot Italian sausages (take out of casings and crumble) or 1/4 lb bulk

2 lg. cloves of garlic minced

1 TBS of extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ TBS of fresh parsley (chopped finely)

1 can 28 oz. crushed tomatoes*

½ of 28 oz can use above of water

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

Salt & pepper to taste

Approx. 5-7 lg. leaves of basil sniped with kitchen shears

3/4 tsp sugar

½ TBS unsalted butter

 # If you do not like it hot add all sweet sausage. If you prefer hot add all hot sausage.

* I prefer San Marzano canned tomatoes the best.

Stove top method:

Put olive oil in large pan or Dutch oven; add ground beef and sausages to brown them. Make sure to crumble them very good so there are no large chunks in the sauce. ½ way through browning add garlic, salt and pepper lightly. Stir continually while browning to ensure small pieces. When browning is done add parsley, stir then add the tomatoes with their juice. Stir to combine add tomato paste and stir to combine. Cook on low for 50 min. Add basil and stir then add sugar and cook for another 30-35 min. Add butter stir until blended. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.

I like to make this sauce a day before so that the flavors meld together. It tastes great now but incredible the next day.

What ever you don’t need you can freeze for up to a month and it still tastes great.

Crock pot method:

 Pre cook ground beef and sausage on the stove with or without olive oil. I put all of the precooked meat in the crock pot and all ingredients except water, sugar and butter. Add only 6 oz. of water when cooking in the crock pot. Stir well and cover crock pot and cook on low for 6 hrs. Then add the sugar and cook for another hour. Stir in butter and add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes approx. 6-1/2 -7 cups

The taste is good in the crock pot, but you need to make sure you only add 6 oz. of water otherwise it is too watery.