Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Recipe

(aka “The Heartiest Meat Sauce” recipe served with spaghetti because most pasta boxes come with instructions)

Recipe back story without being obnoxious:

I am a pasta FIEND. Over time, I have preferred sauces a little heavier on the garlic, hence a little more garlic clove than traditional recipes tend to call for. Traditional meat sauce also doesn’t normally call for the carrots, celery, or bell pepper, but I love soffitto mix vegetables so why NOT add them in? One of my habits when cooking is to try and add additional vegetables into anything I can if it makes sense for the dish. Last but not least – I love some THICK meat sauce! Hence the 2 lbs of ground meat blend. You can use all ground beef for the recipe if you want, it will still be delicious! But I PROMISE you will get so much more by using the beef, pork, and veal together! More detailed info about the wine I used to cook at the end.

“The Occasion”:

Short, sweet, and to the point. I was having some people over the other night, and decided it would be fun to make dinner! Another friend of mind made some caramel apple cheesecakes that were absolutely to die for! I’ll have to get that recipe for another day. I wasn’t sure if anybody would be bringing kiddos or not, and thought spaghetti and meat sauce was a pretty safe, and delicious bet! Luckily enough, I had been wanting to make homemade meat sauce again for a while. I work a lot and free time can be hard to come by. The dinner ended up a success! We stuffed 6 adults, a toddler, and had leftovers to send home with everybody while having enough for round two the next day!

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork

1/2 lb ground veal

2 Tbsp olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 orange bell pepper

1 carrot stick, finely chopped

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

4 Tbsp dried basil

1/2 cup red wine

2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

1 28 oz can of tomato puree

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Meat Sauce Recipe

I wish I could capture how delicious this sauce made my house
for the time it was simmering until I fell asleep.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat, and add the meat into the pot (preferably a large one, all of the sauce can be cooked in the same pot unless you choose not to). Break up the meat as it cooks, making sure the blend cooks evenly.
Add vegetables into the pot, and cook until the onions are translucent. It ends up being about 10 minutes for me. Stir the dried basil in last.
Pour the red wine into the mixture, and cook until the wine is mostly evaporated. Keep stirring until you’re done!
Slowly stir in the cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato puree.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir.
Turn the heat down to a low simmer, and cover. Let the meat sauce cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. I recommend leaving the lid ajar so it doesn’t jump during the few hours the sauce will be simmering for.
Serve with spaghetti pasta or the noodles of your choice, over or stirred together! Top with Parmesan if desire, and enjoy!

A few of our guests eat gluten-free, so I used some chickpea noodles that I had on hand for them! Everybody choosing not to eat gluten-free ate traditional spaghetti noodles. I didn’t add instructions for pasta because they are normally on the box, but I will say that like to add olive oil and a bay leaf for boiling spaghetti. 😉

The Wine:

Castello di Monsanto

Monrosso Chianti 2013

Cherries are definitely dominant in this one. Chiantis normally pair pretty well with beef and veal, so I didn’t mind cooking with it. A good lighter bodied, dry red for a very good price!

“Easy drinking Chianti. Light to medium body. Nose of red fruit and white pepper. Soft tannins help balance out the fruit forward start.”

Hope that was helpful for anybody who was curious!