What’s Cookin’- Spaghetti Bolognese

Every football game needs a pasta dinner the night before to give you energy. Forget about if you’re actually playing in the game or not, queen of the tailgate likes this recipe because it’s stinkin’ awesome… and it  gives me an excuse to eat carbs.

 

This Spaghetti Bolognese is a house favorite I got from The Italian Dish(one of my new faves)… not only because the recipe is amazingly good, but also because it’s A.) EASY, B.) CHEAP, & C.) Relatively Healthy (I use whole wheat pasta). Personally, I leave out the pork and sub it with extra ground beef… Sometimes, I leave out the celery and carrots. What can I say, I like to  mix things up every now and then. Honestly, I haven’t noticed a difference when I don’t put in the celery and carrots… but regardless of what you do, this recipe is AWESOME.
Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork (optional)
• olive oil
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cans beef broth
• 1 (15 oz) can of tomato puree

Instructions:
In a large pot, brown the meats. When Browned, remove meat, and drain the fat.  DO NOT wipe the pot after draining the fat.

In the SAME pot, add enough olive oil to cover bottom. Then, add the onion, carrot, celery. Let that cook slowly, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add your meat back in. Turn up the heat a little. Add the red wine and let the liquid cook off. Add the beef broth and then the tomatoes.

Turn the heat to low and let this simmer, uncovered for at least a couple of hours. The longer the better. If it gets too dry, just add a half cup of water and keep cooking, letting the liquid cook off. Taste and salt and pepper as you like it.

 

Serve over pasta.