The Weatherman

Italian Meat Sauce

This is my world famous meat sauce to be used with pasta or lasagne.

Ingredients

Olive Oil

1 Large sweet onion (mayan or walla walla)

6 garlic cloves

2-3 Tb Basil (I just use dry seasoning not fresh)

2-3 Tb Cumin

1 Tb Allspice

2-3 Tb kosher salt

2-3 Tb pepper (I’ve used both black and white pepper)

1 pkg ground sweet italian sausage (3/4 lb)

1 pkg ground hot italian sausage (3/4 lb)

1 box mushrooms (little box that has 15 to 20 mushrooms)

1 Can of diced tomatoes (I generally use one with garlic or italian seasonings)

1.5 Cans tomato sauce (you can buy the 15oz and the 8 oz cans)

1 Can tomato paste

1 32oz carton of vegetable stock (I use about 12 oz but others may use more)

1/2 tsp sugar

Steps

Using a stock pot (mine is 8 qt), coat bottom with olive oil and turn heat to medium.  Dice up onion and add to pot.  Stir.  Chop up garlic and add to pot. Stir.  Season with salt, pepper, cumin, all spice, and basil.  Feel free to add other spices at this point – I’ve used celery seed and sage as well.  Stir.  By now the onion should be getting soft and the seasonings would have darkened the onion and garlic.  Add both packages of italian sausage.  At first the sausage will not break up well.  You’ll want to push it down into a patty and let one side cook for 3 to 5 minutes (but don’t let it burn).  Slice up the mushrooms.  Start breaking the sausage apart when you stir it up.  Add the mushrooms.  Now spend 5 to 7 minutes stirring/breaking up sausage every minute (I use a large stir metal stir spoon) – long enough to completely brown the sausage.  In the end you should end up with the sausage broken up into small, browned bits mixed with the onion, garlic, mushrooms and seasonings.

Yes, you could brown the sausage separately, but is unnecessary and doesn’t cook it with the other ingredients.

Now add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and 1 to 1.5 cups of the vegetable stock.  Stir well.  I generally don’t add any more vegetable stock as I like my sauce thick.  Feel free to add additional stock to thin it out (or substitute the stock with your favorite red wine).  Also, you can swap out some tomato sauce for another can of diced tomatoes – this will make it less saucy but more chunky.  Add sugar and stir.  The sugar helps sweeten up the tomato bitterness.

Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Since my sauce is thick, I leave it covered and simmer for 30 minutes.

Use with your favorite pasta or in lasagne.  Feel free to experiment…honestly, the measurements are all estimates as I never measure the ingredients when I add them – I just pour them in.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Based on the recipe and comments located here:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/slow-cooker-beef-stroganoff-i/detail.aspx

Ingredients

2 lbs cubed stew meat

2 cans (10.75 oz each can) Golden Mushroom condensed soup

1/2 chopped onion

2 Tbs Worcester Sauce

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs pepper

4 cloves chopped garlic

1/2 package onion soup mix

1 beef buillon cube

1/2 cup water

4 oz cream cheese (I used marscapone)

4 oz sour cream

1 package frozen peas

Steps

Add meat, soup, onion, sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, soup mix, buillon cube, and water to slow cooker.  Stir.  Heat on low for 5 to 6 hours.  Stir 2 to 3 times during the last 2 hours.

30 minutes before eating add cream cheese, sour cream, and peas.  Stir.

Serve over egg noodles or rice.