Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram Well I will tell you one thing, he DIDN’T get it from me. My Dad is a genius rocket scientist though. Maybe it skips a generation? (really though, he’s an actual rocket scientist. He makes lasers. His lab is trying to create fusion. This is literally all I know. When he talks about work, I nod my head and smile.) Actually, I nod my head and smile and think to myself, “I have the best job everrrrrrrrr.” Because the only math I have to do are recipe adjustments that result in things like Chocolate Cake, or Raspberry Rolls, or this delicious spaghetti sauce. If my math teachers in high school had given me cupcakes for success in Algebra, I would have stuck with it a lot longer. Normally I am not into meat sauce. But I like this one because it’s not just ground beef: there are chunks of sweet Italian sausage in there! It’s almost like there are mini meatballs in the sauce. There are also veggies! A couple carrots and a zucchini. The carrots add some of the sweetness that is necessary to round out the acidity of the tomatoes. It doesn’t taste like carrots and zucchini. It just tastes like amazing meaty spaghetti sauce. My other secret is Fire-Roasted diced tomatoes. Have you tried those? SO good! I love the depth that it adds. Normal diced tomatoes will work fine if you can’t find them.
Substitute the white wine with red wine for a richer, deeper flavor (like in Beef Bourguignon!) Alternatively, if you don’t want to use wine, substitute the same amount of chicken broth or beef broth. Use ground pork, turkey, or chicken in place of the ground beef. Try hot Italian sausage instead of sweet Italian sausage for a spicy twist! Consider omitting the cayenne pepper if you do this (unless you can realllllly handle the heat). Substitute the fire roasted diced tomatoes with regular or petite diced tomatoes. Instead of processing the carrots and zucchini in the food processor, leave them in bite size pieces for a more stew-like sauce. Omit the Italian sausage entirely, and after the meat sauce is complete, serve over pasta with baked frozen meatballs. Serve your meat sauce over polenta or mashed potatoes.
This makes a big enough batch that you could potentially save half of it and freeze it for a busy day. One batch of this sauce will be enough for about 2 pounds of spaghetti. Fire roasted diced tomatoes add awesome flavor and are easy to find at the grocery store. It’s the small things that make this sauce soooo good. Don’t skip the carrots in this sauce! Even if you’re not a carrot lover. This sauce doesn’t have a carrot flavor, but the carrots add a nice sweetness to combat the natural acidity of the tomatoes. Stop yourself from chopping up the sausage too small! It has plenty of time to fully cook through after you sear it in the pan. We’re going for a mini-meatball size for the sausage pieces. They’re great in contrast to the smaller, more uniform pieces of ground beef in the spaghetti sauce. Make sure to remove the sausage casings before you start cooking the sausage! An easy way to do this is with kitchen scissors/shears. If you forget and they’re already in the hot pan, all is not lost: Italian sausage casings made from are totally edible and safe to consume, but they cling to the meat and don’t allow it to be chopped into nice bite-size pieces with your spoon. The solution is to turn off the heat, get in there with your kitchen scissors right in the pan, and chop it up with the scissors. No, this has never happened to me, why do you ask? Spray your tupperware with nonstick spray before you put the sauce in for storing in the fridge or freezer. It won’t get stained, hurray!
This spaghetti sauce is so easy to serve up because it’s ready for you in the crockpot when you get home from a busy day. Slow cookin’ 4 life!! To-Die-For Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese « creamy, cheesy, gooey crockpot goodness. 20 Minute Broccoli Lemon Pasta Skillet « healthy, tasty, meatless, and easy. Lemon Pasta with Ricotta and Fresh Peas « a hearty and delicious vegetarian pasta dish, so perfect for spring! 30 Minute Pesto Penne with Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes « so fast, this will be your new fave last minute dinner. Red Pepper Lentil Bolognese from Connoisseurus Veg Farfalle with a Creamy White Bean and Roasted Garlic Sauce from Spoon Fork Bacon Are you making this spaghetti sauce? Snap a photo and tag #TheFoodCharlatan on social. I’d LOVE to see it!
