Good quality ingredients with little prep and a slow simmer gets you this simple and delicious pasta meat sauce; a recipe out of nonna's kitchen!
Throughout the year, probably once a month, I make this simple meat sauce and freeze it for easy meals when we are running low on groceries or forgot to thaw meat for dinner. 99% of the time I just toss this meat sauce with cooked pasta and call it a day. The other 1% of the time I get fancy-ish and make baked ziti or mix it with alternative pastas like spaghetti squash. Whatever plans you have for this sauce, it’s a good recipe to have tucked away during busy times, like the holidays!
Why I love Simple Meat Sauce
This simple meat sauce recipe has never really been written down. I learned it from my mom, who learned it from hers, and it may go even further. To me the smell of this recipe cooking on the stove it a cosy blanket of security and instantly reminds me of my mom and nonna.
I also love it because it is unfussy. I’ve seen other meat or Bolognese sauce recipes that require quite a number of ingredients and a lot of prep work. While I am sure they have complex flavours and are delicious, when I think of how my nonna and nonno cooked, I find they cooked more simply. They honoured what was in season and used ingredients when they were at their best. This simple meat sauce recipe does just that, it uses simple ingredients and lets them shine (not to mention it doesn’t require a lot of prep!).
Recipe Notes
Use good quality tomato puree or canned tomatoes. Usually I use homemade tomato sauce or canned tomatoes that I put through a food mill – but this is not always an option. My favourite alternative is using Mutti Passata Tomatoes the resulting taste of the sauce is almost interchangeable with one made with homemade tomatoes.
Hope you enjoy!
SIMPLE MEAT SAUCE
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- ½ onion, layers separated
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 ¼ lb. lean ground veal
- 2 700ml bottles of tomato puree (I like Mutti Passata Tomato Puree)
- water
- 2 bay leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
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Over medium-high heat saute onion, garlic and olive oil until fragrant and the flavors have penetrated the olive oil, about 3-5 minutes.
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Remove the onion pieces and garlic, add the veal and cook until water released has evaporated, about 8 minutes.
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Add two bottles of tomato puree, bay leaves and a bottle full of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer until reduced by a third to a half, about 2 hours.
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Use with freshly cooked pasta or let cool and freeze for future use.
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