Hearty Pasta And Sauce

I have to be honest here. When it comes to pasta with a tomato-based sauce, it was never in my “top 10” things to eat. I don’t hate it by any means. It’s just that it was never a favorite of mine.

My thoughts on pasta with sauce quickly became history when I discovered this wonderful bolognese. The recipe comes from Mary Berry who is pretty much an icon in Britain.

For those that don’t know this, my family comes from there (I also have dual citizenship) and bolognese is a very popular dish in the UK. I know, go figure!!! Any time my family talked about this and would use the term “bolognese,” I just thought they were being toffee nosed (a Brit expression for acting high-class when you’re NOT) calling meat sauce such a fancy name. Anyway, since it is so popular, Mary Berry made what she considered radical additions to the old standard as well as changing the cooking method.

Yes, White Wine And Yes Cream

White wine is generally not used in more substantial dishes such as this. If you also adhere to old-school thoughts on wine, it’s generally a red that is used with beef. Not here.

And yes, there’s a bit of heavy cream in it too. I think that’s the thing I liked best about Ms Berry’s rendition of this sauce. I’ve read critiques about her sauce–I might add from people who have not tried it–basically saying, “Icky poo.” When they tried it, they changed their tunes quickly. These two things is just what this sauce needs!!!

As an aside, this is usually cooked slow on the stove top. However, this is slow roasted in the oven. I think that process, due to the evaporation, make this sauce so intensely flavored.

Do Use Fresh

In Britain, fresh bay is preferred over it’s dehydrated cousin that’s popular here in the US. My sister even has a bay tree growing in her yard.

Of course you can use dried, but you’ll have to use more if you do. I especially purchased fresh bay to make this. I didn’t think I’d notice a difference, but I did. The flavor is way better. So much so that now I buy fresh any time I need to use bay.

This recipe uses passata–which is uncooked strained tomatoes. Tomato puree is a good substitute, however, you can find the real deal in supermarkets in the US. Pomi brand does it and it’s simply called “strained tomatoes.” Make sure to get the plain kind for this though.

The Recipe

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Slow-Roasted Bolognese

Perfect slow-roasted Bolognese sauce.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Blognese, Sauce

Servings: 6

Calories: 473kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks finely chopped
• 1 large carrot finely diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 5 oz dry white wine
• 18 oz passata see NOTES
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 7 oz beef stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbs brown sugar optional
• 2 tbs chopped fresh thyme -OR- 1 tsp dried fresh is better in this
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Heat the oil in a deep covered ovenproof dutch oven. Add the onion, carrot and celery and fry over high heat for 5 minutes, or until starting to soften. Place the meats in the same pan and fry until browned and any excess liquid has evaporated. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
• Add the tomato paste and stir, then add the passata, tomatoes, stock, herbs, sugar and wine. Season with salt and pepper to taste then bring to a boil, cover and bake for 1 hour.
• Stir in the cream and return pot to oven, uncovered and cook for another hour, until tender and reduced.
• Serve over pasta—like fettucine, linguine or pappardelle.

Notes

Passata, aka “strained tomatoes” can be found by the canned tomatoes in the supermarket. It comes in a paper box. If you can’t find it, use tomato puree.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 473kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 260mg | Potassium: 1124mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 2510IU | Vitamin C: 18.8mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 4.9mg

*Adapted from Mary Berry
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Pasta shells stuffed with great tasting sausage and gobs of mozzarella cheese. This meal is a family pleaser!

Italian Sausage Stuffing Is A Change Of Pace

Cheese is the traditional filling for shells. Ground beef is another common filling. You might like my recipes for Cheese Stuffed Shells and Meat Stuffed Shells.

I have always loved the flavor of Italian sausage so I thought it would work well as a filling.

These were made with sweet sausage, but hot sausage would be very good too.

Sausage Filling Requires Less Prep

Because Italian sausage is so flavorful by itself, it requires less preparation time to make.

That means less “add-ins” to the basic meat mixture, and I kept my add-ins simple.

Soft Bread Crumbs

My meat-stuffed shells use soaked bread. With the sausage filling, I used plain soft breadcrumbs.

Since sausage is wetter than ground beef, I felt the soaked bread would make the filling too watery. Also since sausage is way fattier than the lean ground beef I use in my meat-filled shells, I wanted something that would absorb a lot of that fat. Day-old bread made into crumbs serves that purpose nicely.

Soft bread crumbs are easy to make too, and I usually do a few cups and store them in the fridge for future use. I use my little Kitchenaid mini chopper to make them–just a couple of pulses will turn the torn slices of bread into fine crumbs. If you want to make a bigger batch all at one time, a bigger food processor is the way to go.

Amounts May Vary

I used one pound of bulk sausage meat and about one cup of diced cheese which yielded 8 over-stuffed shells. I would say there was at least 1/3 cup of sausage mixture in each shell. If you want to stretch the filling a bit, use less. What I do is portion out the filling then cook the appropriate amount of shells–with a couple of extra just in case some break or tear upon filling.

And because this question has come up a few times–the meat is raw when it’s stuffed into the pasta. It cooks fully in the oven.

The Recipe

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Sausage Stuffed Shells

Pasta shells stuffed with great tasting sausage and gobs of mozzarella cheese. This meal is a family pleaser!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, pasta, Pork

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: italian sausage, pasta, sausage, stuffed shells

Servings: 4

Calories: 757kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 lb sweet or hot bulk Italian sausage meat
• 6-8 oz about a cup diced (small dice) mozzarella
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley --OR- 2 tbs dry from the jar parsely
• 1 1/4 cup soft bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan -OR- Romano cheese
• 1 clove garlic finely minced
• 2 eggs
• 8-12 jumbo shells cooked al dente
• 1 recipe Quick Chunky Tomato Sauce -OR- your favorite pasta sauce
• Extra shredded mozzarella

Instructions

• Mix well the sausage meat, mozzarella, parsley, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic and eggs in a medium bowl. Portion out the meat in desired amount.
• Cook the same amount of shells as meat portions. Slightly undercook the shells because they will be baked too.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place about 1/2 cup of the sauce in a baking dish large enough to hold the amount of shells you made--this would be anywhere from a 1 1/2-2 1/2 quart baking dish.
• Put the shells in the pan and top with more sauce and desired amount of shredded mozzarella.
• Cover baking dish with foil and bake 45-60 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 757kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 50g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 1417mg | Potassium: 472mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 744IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 346mg | Iron: 4mg

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Chili Hater’s Chili

 

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Chili Hater's Chili

A couple of years ago, I had chili on the brain, for some odd reason, so I decided to try this again.  I pinpointed my dislike for the dish–cumin.  I’m not a fan of this spice at all.  I was reviewing a cookbook for slow cookers and found a recipe that did NOT include this, so I gave it a go.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time8 hours hrs

Total Time8 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: beef, Comfort Foods, ever, Slow Cooker

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: chili

Servings: 6

Calories: 153kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef browned and drained
• 1 can dark red kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can garbanzo beans chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 can Rotelle tomatoes chopped tomatoes with green chiles
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 large garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1-2 long dried chile peppers
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

• Brown ground beef with chopped onion and minced garlic until meat is brown and onion is translucent; drain and add to slow cooker
• Add the remaining ingredients to slow cooker, cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours.
• Serve with rice and top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 153kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 561mg | Potassium: 732mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1131IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 4mg

 

 

Chili Hater’s Chili

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