A Lotta Meat and Mushroom Sauce

We love pasta in this house, and we eat a lot of it.  I try to find new ways of making pasta to keep it interesting.  It's hard to cook other meals when there is a vegan in the house, but pasta is always a good choice.  All I do is scoop out enough sauce for the vegan and add what I want to the rest of the sauce.   He will always eat pasta, but it has to have vegan sauce. I had a package of mushrooms to use, they were hanging out in the fridge, and some ground meat too.  I never make meat sauce, we almost always have meatballs/sausage in our sauce, so I switched it up a little bit and made this meat and mushroom sauce and it was delightful.  Recipe below.

I started my sauce first and got that cooking up on the stove.  Then I browned my meat, drain the fat off because you don't need that! Transfer to a bowl and set it aside.

 Saute those 'shrooms in some olive oil until they are nice and brown.

 Back into the pan and toss them together.

 Now this is some hearty meat sauce!  I take out a few ladles of just sauce for the vegan and added some of  the mushrooms, he loved it.

 Top your favorite pasta with this awesome meat sauce and grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese, MANGIA!

Homemade Meat and Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 - 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons of oregano

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

8 basil leaves sliced

2 teaspoons of onion powder

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 teaspoons of sugar

1 lb. ground meat

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1 - 8 oz. package of sliced portobello mushrooms

1 - 1lb. box of your favorite pasta

Directions

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil then add the garlic.  Cook for 30 seconds, stirring so the garlic does not burn. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes, Italian seasoning, oregano, parsley, basil, onion powder, red pepper, salt, pepper and sugar. Continue to cook stirring occasionally.

While the sauce is cooking, add the ground meat to a frying pan and cook until completely brown.  Drain the fat off, I use a colander, it makes it easier.  Transfer the meat to a bowl.  Add the one teaspoon of olive to the same pan and cook the mushrooms until they are golden brown.  If you have a vegan in the house, ladle out some of the sauce and toss with some of the mushrooms before combining with the meat. Toss the meat back into the frying pan and combine with the mushrooms.  Add all the meat and mushrooms to the sauce Cook the meat and sauce together for one hour.  In the last half hour of cooking, start a pot of salted water to cook your favorite pasta.

Pappardelle With Meat Sauce

We love all kinds of pasta in my house.  It doesn't matter what kind of sauce is on it, pasta is always a hit.  I could eat pasta everyday and never get tired of it.  It is one of those foods you can make a lot of different ways, and comes in many shapes and sizes.  One of those shapes is pappardelle.  If you don't know what pappardelle is, it's a very wide flat pasta noodle.  I bought my pappardelle at Trader Joe's and came up with this very tasty dish with meat sauce.  Enjoy!

 A few ingredients, I used beef cubes for stew, but any beef tips will do.  All the meat gets really tender in the sauce.  Chop and saute garlic and onion, in olive oil of course.

 Fry up your tomato paste to get that raw taste out of it.  Add the crushed tomatoes.

 Here come the seasonings! And then add the meat, yes I know its raw, trust me it's ok!

 Sauce and meat all cooked up, and now time to cook the pasta.  Never mind those brownies in the back there, I know you're all looking at them!  Keep your eyes on the pasta.

 Shred the beef, top the pasta with the sauce, add some shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese, cracked black pepper and Pasta Meravigliosa!  Wonderful Pasta! 

 A simple salad with this dressing from Wegman's doesn't hurt either.  This dressing is sooooo good!  Oh, and a loaf of warm Italian bread with butter, don't forget that to sop up all the sauce.

Papperdelle With Meat Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 - 6 oz can tomato paste

1 - 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper, more if you like heat

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp parsley, dried or fresh is fine

2 bay leaves

2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

1 cup of water

1 - 1 lb. package of beef cubes or sirloin tips

1 - 8 oz package of pappardelle pasta (this package made 2 servings)

Shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

Fresh cracked black pepper

Directions

In a heavy saucepan, on medium - high heat, add the olive oil and saute garlic and onion just until tender. Add in the paste, stirring into the garlic and onion, and fry for 2 minutes.  Add the crushed tomatoes and stir in.  Add the next 12 ingredients, stirring after each addition to the saucepan, ending with the beef.  Reduce heat to medium or medium low, put a lid on the pan and cook for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally so the sauce does not stick to the pan.  One half hour before serving:  1. Bring a large pot of water with 1 tsp of salt, to a boil and add the pappardelle, stir to separate.  Cook to your liking, we like ours al dente (to the tooth). 2. While the water is coming to a boil, remove the meat from the sauce and shred, then return to the saucepan and heat through.

Drain the pasta, pour into a serving bowl, top with the meat sauce, shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese and cracked black pepper.