Penne with Sausage and Beef Ragu

Sometimes we just need something a little different.  Not too crazy, just a little altered.  That's what this recipe is.  It's a basic meat sauce recipe that has ground beef and sausage in it.  It's very tasty, I promise!

Sausage and Beef Ragu

Ingredients:

2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground sausage meat or 6 sweet sausage links removed from their casing
6-7 basil leaves (or 2 frozen cubes)
salt and pepper
garlic powder
Mrs. Dash Table Blend
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Break up sausage with you fingers and add to a preheated pot with 1 tablespoon oil.  Add ground beef.  Saute beef ans sausage until browned. Sprinkle with garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Use a potato masher or wooden spoon to break up the meat so you don't have any large chunks. Drain oil from meat and set aside.

Saute onion and garlic in EVOO. Return meat to pot and add tomatoes. Swish water in the cans and add about ½ can of water or as needed so it’s not too thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add basil. Let cook for ½ hour, stirring occasionally so sauce does not burn. Taste again for seasoning. Add 1 tsp of sugar or a little more if needed. Allow sauce to cook for ½ hour more and taste again.

Serve over your favorite pasta.

Click here for a Printable Recipe of Sausage and Beef Ragu.

Skillet Pasta Forno - Another use for leftovers

These days we are all trying to stretch a buck and for me that means using up leftovers. Sometimes I am appalled at the amount of food I throw away. It's wrong and I'm really trying hard not to do that anymore. I don't know about you but I always make way more sauce than I need. Most of the time I make enough to freeze but sometimes it's just not enough to take up space in my freezer. It's times like these that using up the sauce for a skillet pasta works well. I had some leftover meat sauce and some fresh mozzarella. If you had some ricotta you could through that in too and make some baked ziti, any veggies you have would also be a lovely addition but you don't have to have anything special. Sauce, pasta and some mozzarella is all you need.


There isn't a recipe, it's very easy. Heat up your sauce in an oven proof skillet. Cook your pasta to al dente, drain, toss with sauce. Add diced or shredded mozzarella (and anything else you want to through in), toss again. You'll see the mozzarella is starting to melt from the hot sauce. Sprinkle some romano cheese on top and stick it in a 375 degree oven until cheese is melted and bubbly. If you want the cheese to brown turn your broiler on for a few minutes until the desired color is achieved.


Is that easy enough? No more throwing away leftovers!