Meat Lovers Pasta Sauce

I made this Rachel Ray recipe which she calls "Christmas Pasta", which is a fantastic dish but not sure why it's named that...so I'm changing it LOL. Sorry Rachel. It has loads of meat in the sauce so I feel like it should be called "meat lovers" and made all year round instead of just at Christmas. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this terrific meal - but it looks like chunky thick red pasta sauce mixed with penne!

Here's a picture of Lucy eating parsley leaves instead ;)



Ingredients:

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/4 pound pancetta, thick cut, chopped into small bits (Italian cured pork)
1/2 pound bulk hot Italian sausage
1 pound combined ground beef, pork, and veal (see note)
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup good quality dry red wine
1 cup beef stock
2 (32 oz) cans chunky style crushed tomatoes
a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cinnamon
coarse salt and black pepper
2 pounds penne rigate, cooked to al dente
grated pecorino romano or parmesan

Directions:

1. 
   
2. Heat a deep pot over medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, bay, and pancetta bits and brown for 1 minute. Add meats and brown and crumble them for 5 minutes.
3. Chop carrot, celery, and onions near the stove and add to the pot as you work. Cook vegetables with meat 5 minutes and add wine. Cook for 1 minute; add stock and tomatoes to the pot.
4. Stir in parsley, allspice, or cinnamon and season sauce with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and cook 10 to 15 minutes minimum before serving. Reheated sauce only improves.
5. Toss pasta (cook off only as much pasta as you need at the time: half a pound for every 3 people) with a couple of ladles of sauce to coat, then top bowl with extra sauce. Top pasta with lots of cheese and pass bread at the table.

(pancetta)

Notes: I don't eat veal so did a combination of beef, pork, and lamb (that's my standard meatloaf mix - I bought one pound of each knowing I'll make meatloaf or something with the remainder); was worried the hot Italian sausage would be too spicy so did a combination of 1/4 pound hot and 1/4 pound mild; and I cut the carrot and celery into very small pieces. The photo that accompanies her recipe shows the veggies in pretty big pieces - I didn't want to see the veggie pieces. I started the dish a little differently (based on reviews I read) by sautéing the pancetta and garlic in the oil for one minute and then adding the carrot, celery, and onion for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ground meats. I don't like hunks of ground meat so made sure to really break the crumbles up into small pieces. Because the recipe states that reheating the sauce only improves it, I made this in the morning and let it cool, refrigerated it until about an hour before serving and then reheated. SO good! 

click here for original source found on the Food Network

Happy moment ~ how good it feels to change into dry clothes after walking in the pouring rain