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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Easy Bolognese Sauce


Lately, I have been using my Crock pot A LOT.  Like 2-3 times a week sometimes!   I like recipes that do not require a bunch of prep.  Throw it in and let it cook is my style.  Now, I do  cook some recipes that do require a bit of prep.  But if I have to dirty 2 or 3 pans and THEN the crock on top of it, I usually don't make it.

I kind of made this one up as I went along.  I'm 100% Italian and believe me when I tell you, we make A LOT up as we go along!  This coming from someone who didn't know how to make anything but coffee and toast when I left home as a young adult!    Anyway, last week I was in the mood for meat sauce.  Lately I'm big on one dish dinners, of course with a little salad.    We are busy usually after dinner  and it's just easier.  




I didn't have any ground beef, but I knew I had about 3/4 lb of sausage to use with it.  Ground beef would be great and I know some like to mix both ground beef and sausage.  The sausage has a lot of flavor so I didn't need to season it too much.  I also cook with turkey sausage as well.




  So here is my made up as I went along Bolognese that I think you'll really like!

1/2-1 lbs of sweet Italian sausage browned bulk style (aka small pieces) 
2 tablespoons of Olive oil
1/2 small onion chopped fine
2 or 3 cloves of garlic through your press (minced is fine too)
 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
8 oz can of tomato sauce (you could also use paste if you like a thicker sauce, I didn't have any on hand)
Fresh basil (I keep fresh basil in my freezer, is it still really fresh? lol)  you can use dried of course
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups of water,  Now the water is up to you, I used a little more because I knew it was going to cook on high and didn't want to have to worry about it getting too thick.  I would use as much or as little as your comfortable with and adjust your cooking time accordingly.

I browned the sausage, put the Olive oil in the crock pot with the onions and garlic and added the rest of the ingredients.  Gave it a good stir and left  it on high for 4-5 hours.  You could also cook on low for longer.  

I cooked a lb of capatavi pasta and when it was done, drained it and dumped the contents of the crock pot into the pasta, mixed it up really good and served it with Romano cheese!  

YUM!   My family loved it!









buon appetito!



XOXO

4 comments:

gena said...

that looks yummy! I'm a big crock pot user myself and with three guys in the house, there is no such thing as leftovers here.

I made a huge pot of sauce last week myself. I use ribs instead of ground meat, a bit of wine and sugar along with the usual onions, garlic, basil, and what not. I make enough for four or five dinners and freeze it flat in ziploc bags. I'm not Italian (Gallega, from the north of Spain), but it is definitely our FAVORITE food on Lavender Hill!

Thanks for sharing!
gena

Blondie's Journal said...

This looks wonderful! I have to try it, I think I have everything. I keep my big old crockpot up high on a shelf so it's always a project bringing it up and down. So when I do I do I use it a lot for a few weeks. Can't beat a one pot meal!

XO,
Jane

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

That looks yummy. I didn't know you were full Italian. So is my daughter in law.

Lisa said...

Looks super yummy.

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