Chef 101 Adds to: Slow-Cooked Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Yes, I actually looked up a recipe for spaghetti sauce, sue me.  But there are lots of morphs of sauce out there, and I’m always looking for something new – to appease my Wednesday audience, and my family!  This one let me use ground Italian sausage, a fave of mine, but also added brown sugar and plenty of spices.  I added fresh carrots (much to my family’s chagrin) and mushrooms (to my daughter’s delight) and will definitely make it again.  My changes, as always, are in italics below.  I paired this with a Pulchella Tempranillo, spinach salad, and drumsticks later for dessert.

• Prep: 15 min. Cook: 7 hours (I went 9 hours as I had to leave early that morning, and sauce is always better simmering longer I think!)
• Yield: 6-8 Servings (barely, if adults)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef or bulk Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 teaspoons dried basil (This seemed weird, 1 to 2?  I went for 1 1/2 on the basil and oregano, seemed fine.)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Hot cooked spaghetti (1 1/2 pounds for 6 in my family)
• (added 6 oz carrots)
• (added 8 oz mushrooms)

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  (There was nothing to drain!  Oops!)
• Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Add the next 10 (or 12) ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until heated through. Discard bay leaf. (oopsie…) Serve with spaghetti. Yield: 6-8 servings. (I was serving my daughter, mother, brother, sis and brother-in-law, so I had to add a jar of Ragu mid-way through to make sure I had enough!
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