Spaghetti Sauce With Meat - Slow Method

Total Time: 5 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed beef broth
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 2 -4 cloves garlic, minced,more to taste
• 2 sweet red peppers or 2 green peppers, seeded and chopped
• 5 lbs fresh roma tomatoes, skinned,seeded and chopped,skin and juices reserved (plum)
• 4 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 cup dry red wine or 1 cup wine
• 2 tablespoons italian seasoning, lightly crushed
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano, lightly crushed
• 1 teaspoon fennel or 1 teaspoon anise, lightly crushed
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• salt
• additional fresh ground black pepper
• garlic granules
• 1/2 teaspoon msg (optional)
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 -3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning, lightly crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon msg (optional)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 lbs sweet italian sausage links
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 lb mushroom, cleaned and thinly sliced,more to taste
• 1/2 cup dry red wine or 1/2 cup wine
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet basil
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper
• tomato juice or wine, to thin sauce if necessary
• hot cooked and drained spaghetti, as accompaniment
• freshly grated parmesan cheese, as accompaniment

Recipe

• 1 in a small saucepan, combine bouillon and reserved tomato skins and juice.
• 2 bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing pulp against side of pan.
• 3 reserve.
• 4 heat 1/4 cup olive oil in large skillet.
• 5 add garlic and chopped onions, and saute over medium-high heat until soft.
• 6 add peppers, and continue cooking until onions are slightly browned.
• 7 in a large pot, combine chopped tomatoes and onion mixture.
• 8 strain bouillon mixture into pot, pressing on pulp to maximize liquid, discarding pulp.
• 9 add tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, and spices.
• 10 bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer covered, stirring regularly to prevent sticking and burning.
• 11 in a large skillet over medium heat, break up 2 pounds ground beef into small pieces.
• 12 season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and optional msg.
• 13 cook until browned, continuing to break up meat with a large fork.
• 14 drain excess grease, and add meat to tomato mixture.
• 15 continue cooking sauce, covered, for about 1 hour.
• 16 in a large bowl, combine thoroughly 1-1/2 lb ground beef, egg, onion, garlic, italian seasoning, msg, salt, and pepper, and breadcrumbs, adjusting to a firm consistency by varying amount of breadcrumbs.
• 17 form into 3/4" meatballs.
• 18 heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large skillet.
• 19 add half of meatballs, and brown well over high heat.
• 20 remove meatballs from pan, and reserve.
• 21 repeat with remaining meatballs.
• 22 drain grease from pan, but do not clean it.
• 23 pierce skins of italian sausages with a sharp fork.
• 24 place in the skillet with about 1/2" of water.
• 25 simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes to render excess grease, turning several times.
• 26 do not scrape bottom of pan while turning.
• 27 drain water, and return pan to heat.
• 28 continue cooking, turning sausages regularly, until skins are browned.
• 29 remove from heat, and cool until sausages can be handled.
• 30 cut each sausage crosswise into 1/4" slices.
• 31 return to pan, and brown over medium-high heat.
• 32 reserve sausage, and drain all but 2 tbsp grease from pan.
• 33 do not clean the pan.
• 34 alternately, sausage can be removed from casing and cooked with the ground beef noted as in the first paragraph, and adding the following steps at that point.
• 35 add 2 tbsp butter to pan, and heat until sizzling.
• 36 add mushrooms, and toss to coat with butter.
• 37 saute over medium heat until mushrooms start releasing juice.
• 38 add 1/2 cup wine, and simmer about 5 minutes, scraping bottom of pan thoroughly to deglaze.
• 39 remove from heat, and reserve.
• 40 after tomato mixture has simmered for 1 hour, add meatballs, sausage slices, fresh basil, parsley, and mushroom mixture to sauce.
• 41 continue cooking for about 15 minutes.
• 42 adjust seasoning, adding more italian seasoning, sugar, and salt and pepper as needed.
• 43 if sauce is too thick, thin with tomato juice or wine.
• 44 if sauce is too thin, continue cooking, uncovered, until desired consistency is reached.
• 45 cover, and continue cooking for 1 additional hour, stirring regularly.
• 46 there should be little or no grease on top of the sauce.
• 47 if there is, skim or blot off and discard.
• 48 toss 2-3 cups of the sauce with hot pasta that has been cooked until al dente.
• 49 divide into serving portions.
• 50 top each portion with about 1 cup of additional sauce.
• 51 pass freshly grated parmesan cheese on the side.
• 52 this may seem like a very large recipe, but it obviously takes quite awhile to prepare, so make the full recipe, and freeze the excess in fairly small containers.
• 53 it will keep for 6-8 months easily, and in my opinion, tastes better after aging.
• 54 if desired, and if you have a big enough pot, double the recipe, and pack in 1 quart ziploc freezer bags for freezing.
• 55 one quart of sauce and 1 lb of uncooked dry spaghetti, cooked until al dente, will serve 4 people.