American Meat Sauce Recipes

MEAT SAUCE AND SPAGHETTI

Steps:

• For the meat sauce:
• Place an 8-quart Dutch oven over low heat and add the bacon. Cook slowly until the bacon is crispy and has rendered its fat, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan for another use. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Place the clove and star anise into a small spice bag, add to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions caramelize, 45 to 60 minutes. Add the celery and the 3 cloves of minced garlic to the pan and continue to cook over low heat until the celery is semi-translucent, approximately 30 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the pot.
• Meanwhile, place a wide 4-quart saute pan, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and once it shimmers, add the beef chuck and the pork butt and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to a colander to drain. Return the pan to high heat, add 1/2 cup of the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer these bits and any remaining wine to the Dutch oven along with the meat.
• Add another 1/2 cup of the wine, evaporated milk, beef broth, and mushrooms to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours.
• Once the sauce has been cooking for 1 1/2 hours, place the 4-quart saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once it shimmers, add the 2 cloves of sliced garlic and cook for 30 to 45 seconds or until fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and marjoram and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 30 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine, tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high; add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Transfer the tomato mixture to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing the pasta.
• For the pasta:
• Bring the water and salt to a boil over high heat. Carefully add the pasta, stirring quickly to separate. Cover and return to a boil, being careful that the water does not boil over. Once boiling again, uncover and continue to cook until slightly less than al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander.
• Add the pasta to the meat sauce and cook, over low heat, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Add the Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Transfer pasta and sauce to a serving bowl or individual bowls and serve.

AMERICAN MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes translucent but does not get any color, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the bell pepper, celery, garlic, a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the beef, a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper to the pot and cook, stirring to break the meat into small bits, until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and oregano and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.
• Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes with their juices, sugar and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 45 minutes.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE WITH GROUND BEEF

Steps:

• Combine ground beef, onion, garlic, and green pepper in a large saucepan. Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain grease.
• Stir diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

MEATLESS "MEAT" SAUCE WITH CHICKPEAS AND MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Pulse mushrooms in two batches in food processor until chopped into 1/8- to 1/4-inch pieces, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Do not clean workbowl.).
• Heat 5 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are browned and fond has formed on bottom of pot, about 8 minutes.
• While mushrooms cook, pulse onion in food processor until finely chopped, 7 to 10 pulses, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Do not clean workbowl.) Transfer onion to pot with mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, oregano and pepper flakes in bowl.
• Add tomato paste to pot and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is rust-colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and push vegetables to sides of pot. Add garlic mixture to center and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and broth; bring to a simmer over high heat. Once simmering, reduce heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. .
• Next pulse chickpeas in food processor until chopped into uniformly 1/4 inch-or-so pieces; about 7 - 10 pulses. Transfer chopped chickpeas to a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear. Drain well. Not rinsing the chickpeas after pulsing in the food processor may make the sauce too thick. After draining and rinsing, add the chickpeas to the sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. .
• If sauce is too thin for your taste, let simmer uncovered until thickened. If sauce is on the thicker side, reserve some of the pasta's cooking water and use to thin out the sauce.
• Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. .

OLD ITALIAN MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large skillet, brown beef and pork over medium heat until no longer pink; set aside.
• In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat and saute onions and garlic until tender; add about 1/2 cup of wine; mix well.
• Add mushrooms, rosemary, oregano and thyme to skillet and add another 1/2 cup wine; saute until tender.
• Add browned meat, tomato sauce and tomato paste to mixture; simmer for 1 hour and add the remaining 2 cups of wine.
• Simmer sauce on low for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally; serve.