mama bear's easy red meat sauce recipe
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You ask and you shall receive! Kinda. It was a little trial and error to get this recipe down. The “recipe” that was passed down didn’t exactly have measurements; so every time I made it, it was a guessing game. Good news is, it always came out delicious so really you can’t do much wrong with this one.
In any case, my mom was more than happy to share the (what I’m calling, exact) recipe — although we debated a little on this final ingredients list. She uses way more wine than I do (I save mine for drinking 😝) and hers also includes onion (Jamie doesn’t eat it) and fresh parsley (I only need one fresh green 😂). So today I guess I’m sharing my version of my mama bear’s easy red meat sauce recipe.
We typically use this for spaghetti or lasagna, and even had it over gnocchi the other day! This red meat sauce is a super versatile and so delicious. You can also change up the meat to make it a little different — my mom does a beef stew meat cut into tiny pieces and I’ve tried it with half ground beef and half ground pork; both make great sauces! Just goes to show you truly can’t mess this up. So let’s get to it.
mama bear’s easy red meat sauce
2 hours | serves 6
directions
Heat olive oil and butter in a large pan.
Add garlic and sauté until tender.
Add meat and sauté until lightly browned, breaking into small pieces.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, water, sugar, salt, pepper and fresh basil.
Bring to a simmer and let simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours, until thickened. Note: you may need to add red wine or water as it cooks, just keep watching and stirring.
Enjoy!
ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 lb ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
1 large can Italian style tomatoes, whole
1 small can tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
fresh basil, chopped
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