There is a trend in my life right now...lots of pregnant friends and family and brand-new babies turning up left and right. Melanie and Jeremy just had a lovely little guy themselves and so I made some seriously meaty red sauce for them to keep in their freezer for emergency dinnertime. If you have the same baby epidemic going on, try making your poor friends something delicious. They will thank you in an adorable, sleep-deprived way.
I chopped up 2 big onions into dice...
...and about 6 cloves of garlic as well as a good 1/2 cup of parsley. I want this little baby to appreciate strong southern Italian flavors!
The onions and garlic cooked in about 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-low heat until soft, then I added in 3 pounds of ground meat to brown (one pound each of beef, veal and pork). After the onion was softened and the meats were browned, I put most of two big cans of peeled tomatoes through my food mill for a smoother sauce texture.
I saved about a cup's worth to chop up so there would be some nice tomatoey bites in there too.
The sauce bubbled away for about 2 hours so it got nice and full-flavored.
Because I am a cheese monster, I made labels for the freezer bags that I froze the sauce in. This made just enough for 4 1-quart bags. It's a good size to be able to pull out of the freezer for dinner for 2.
Lay them flat to freeze so they will store better. Here they are the next day, ready to be packed up for Mel.
I ended up making a gift basket with some pasta, a wedge of parmesan and a much-needed bottle of wine.
There is a trend in my life right now...lots of pregnant friends and family and brand-new babies turning up left and right. Melanie and Jeremy just had a lovely little guy themselves and so I made some seriously meaty red sauce for them to keep in their freezer for emergency dinnertime. If you have the same baby epidemic going on, try making your poor friends something delicious. They will thank you in an adorable, sleep-deprived way.
I chopped up 2 big onions into dice...
...and about 6 cloves of garlic as well as a good 1/2 cup of parsley. I want this little baby to appreciate strong southern Italian flavors! 
The onions and garlic cooked in about 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-low heat until soft, then I added in 3 pounds of ground meat to brown (one pound each of beef, veal and pork). After the onion was softened and the meats were browned, I put most of two big cans of peeled tomatoes through my food mill for a smoother sauce texture.
I saved about a cup's worth to chop up so there would be some nice tomatoey bites in there too.
The sauce bubbled away for about 2 hours so it got nice and full-flavored.
Because I am a cheese monster, I made labels for the freezer bags that I froze the sauce in. This made just enough for 4 1-quart bags. It's a good size to be able to pull out of the freezer for dinner for 2.
Lay them flat to freeze so they will store better. Here they are the next day, ready to be packed up for Mel.
I ended up making a gift basket with some pasta, a wedge of parmesan and a much-needed bottle of wine.
1 comment:
Oh how we love this sauce. And what a needed gift of not only food, but a visitor when you are so pregnant you don't want to be seen in public anymore.
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