Mamma's (and Michael's) Meat Sauce

If you see comments on Take One Cookbook... from Kelly Redwine, you should know, you're reading my big sister. As a little sister, I feel it's my duty to both support and horribly tease my big sister whenever possible, and Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better! has given me a fabulous chance. So, Kelly, here's your boyfriend's meat sauce recipe.

Mamma's (and Michael's) Meat Sauce

Once when my mother came to visit us, she taught my son Michael (who was nine years old at the time) to make this sauce. Michael (who is seventeen now) has been making it ever since. He takes requests for "Michael's Meat Sauce" without batting an eye.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 28-oz. cans ready-cut, peeled tomatoes
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon thyme
10 fresh mushrooms, diced

In a saucepan, heat oil and lightly brown onion, carrot, and garlic. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper, and sugar. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, brown ground beef in skillet over medium-high heat, drain off fat. Add meat and thyme to tomato mixture. Cover and simmer 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook another 10 minutes.

Great with 1 pound of pasta, cooked al dente.

Serves 4-6.

I know you loooooooove him, Kelly, so here's a photo of your boyfriend. He's so dreamy!

Requisite teasing: over.

This meat sauce sounds like my family's standard spaghetti sauce -- well, if you sidestep around the whole "we used a Schilling seasoning packet" part -- and so sounds cozy as all get-out to me. I also like that it says how much pasta this recipe will sauce adequately. Anyone who gets 6 servings out of a pound of pasta is clearly no friend of mine, however. 4? Sure. 6? NO.

If for any reason you have leftovers, this should keep well.

As you'd expect, there are a lot of sauce recipes in Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better! -- it's a predominantly Italian cookbook, after all. If anyone's interested, I'll post Mamma's Sunday Sauce, too... it's what Dom DeLuise grew up eating, and his default sauce.