Cooking Weblog

A slow simmered meat sauce with ground beef, sweet Italian sausage, peppers, onions, tomatoes and more. The methods used give this sauce an authentic Italian flavor I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Add a piece of garlic bread and a salad and you’ve got a  great restaurant quality meal, enjoy!

Ingredients: Bolonaise Sauce

1 lb. hamburger (15%)

1 lb. Italian sausage

1/2 green pepper (small dice)

1/2 orange pepper (small dice)

1/2 red pepper (small dice)

1 medium size onion (small dice)

4 cloves fressh garlic (minced or crushed)

1 shallot (minced)

2 stalks celery (small dice)

6 oz. small Italian brown mushrooms (sliced)

1 big tbsp. salt

1 3/4 teas. pepper

1 tbsp. dry oregano

1 tbsp. dry parsley

1 teas. dry marjoram

2 teas. dry basil

6 oz. can tomato paste

28 oz. can whole tomatoes

29 oz. can tomato puree

1 “can” water (29oz.)

Method: Bolonaise Sauce

Start by preparing all of the vegetables first, this will make it easier when you start cooking.

For the sausage, any type of Italian sausage will do. I’m using a lean sweet Italian. An Italian style pork sausage is also great in this sauce. If you like it spicy, use a spicy Italian sausage.

An easy way to remove the casing is to twist the link in half and then squeeze it out either end, all of the meat should come out easily leaving just the casing.

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, brown the meats with 2 teas.  salt and 1 teas. pepper over medium high heat.

Break up the meat into small pieces during the browning process.

Remove all but about a tbsp.  or so of the meat, this will be the start of building lots of flavor in your pot.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the tomato paste to your pot.

Cook the tomato paste, stirring often for 3-5 minutes or until it starts to darken and becomes thick. It should start to smell like wine.

Make sure to keep a good eye on it as it will burn on you, so keep stirring.

Add all of the vegetables except for the mushrooms to the tomato paste. Cook for 10-15 minutes,  stirring often.

The vegetables will start to release their juices into the paste making for a super concentrated flavor. This makes a great base for a rich and flavorful sauce.

After the vegetables have cooked down and are soft, add the can of whole tomatoes.

Using a wood spatula, break the tomatoes down into small chunks, they will continue breaking down during cooking which is what we want. This will take a few minutes.

After the whole tomatoes have been broken down, add the tomato puree, mushrooms, can of water, 2 teas. salt, 3/4 teas. pepper, oregano, parsley, marjoram and basil.

Give it a good stir and wait for it to come back to a boil. This will only take a few minutes.

When it reaches a boil, reduce heat to low, add the meat back in and give it another good stir.

Simmer covered for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

The longer it simmers, the better it gets, I simmered mine for about 3 1/2 hours. It’s ready for pasta!

This sauce works well for lasagna and almost any type of pasta. I’m using spaghetti noodles for mine which I just followed the package instructions. Any leftover sauce can be frozen for up to 6 months using proper freezing techniques.

Here’s a great garlic bread idea for  you!

Ingredients: Garlic Bread

1 1/2 cubes margarine

4 cloves fresh garlic (crushed or minced)

1 1/2 tbsp.  fresh onion (fine diced)

1/2 teas. dry oregano (rubbed through your fingers)

1/2 teas. dry basil (rubbed through your fingers)

8-10 slices french bread (cut 1in. thick on a bias)

Method: Garlic Bread

Simply add everything but the bread to a small sauce pan. Cook on medium heat to melt the margarine.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes to incorporate the flavors into the margarine.

This method really infuses the flavors into the margarine compared to just mixing the ingredients into soft margarine.

Remove from heat, cover and let steep until cool.

Transfer the garlic butter to a small bowl and refrigerate until it hardens back up. This will take 1 to 2 hours so I recommend starting this while your sauce is simmering.

The margarine may separate while cooling (like mine did) but that’s ok, just give it a good stir and it will get creamy for you.

As you can see from the picture, mine isn’t quite ready yet. I used this picture to show you this as a reference. I just put mine back in the refrigerator for a little longer and then gave it a good stir.

Slice the french bread on a bias. This will give you a great looking piece of garlic bread.

Once your garlic butter has thickened back up, spread a thick layer onto the bread.

Place the pieces on a foil lined bake sheet for easy clean up.

Bake your garlic bread in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

For a garlic cheese bread simply follow all instructions above and sprinkle cheese over the top before placing in the oven.

Now all that’s left is to make a plate and dig in! I’m also having mine with a simple garden salad. Traditionally, Parmesan cheese would be sprinkled over the top but I’m having mine with cheddar… I like the flavor and creaminess.

The flavor of this sauce is outstanding. Building your flavors at the beginning really pays off in the final results, well worth making! My sauce was perfect but there is a lot of tomato paste in the recipe. If you find your sauce to be a little acidic just add about a tbsp. of sugar to the sauce. This will neutralize any metal or acidic taste associated with tomato paste, a good thing to remember when using it. The garlic bread with the infused butter really compliments the bolonaise… yummy! Add a salad and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY COOKING!

-David

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