Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 cups red wine, full body preferably
2 large cans crushed tomatoes, (about 40 oz)
2 cans diced tomatoes (about 30 oz)
1 small can tomato paste (about 6 oz)
10 leaves fresh basil
2 stems fresh oregano
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Directions: |
Directions:In a large stock pot or saucepan, brown your ground beef while breaking it apart on medium-high heat. Once it is almost completely browned (still has a little bit of pink showing), drain away all the excess fat, if needed. Add the diced onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent about 5 minutes.
Add the red wine and maintain the heat at medium-high and simmer until the wine is almost completely reduced and gone. There should be very little wine left at the bottom of the pan.
Next, add your tomato paste into the mixture and stir to blend it in. Then add your crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes (with its juices), a hearty pinch of salt and fresh herbs to the mixture. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer. I leave the basil leaves whole, and the oregano on its stem so that I can pluck them out before serving.
Allow your sauce to simmer on low, stirring occasionally until it has thickened enough so that a wooden spoon can stand straight up in the pot without any assistance. Make sure the heat is not so high that you scorch your sauce. If you happen to do so, pour the sauce immediately into another pan and continue to simmer. Do not scrape any burnt sauce into the new pan as it will ruin the flavor.
Before serving, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Depending on the sweetness of the canned tomatoes, sometimes I will add a pinch of sugar to the sauce at the end. If you want a super decadent sauce, you can even swirl in 1/2 cup of heavy cream before serving. Serve on hot spaghetti with garlic bread or knots! |
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