Pat's Lasagna Meat Sauce
- Ready In:
- 50mins
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Yields:
-
1 gallon
ingredients
- 2 lbs ground chuck, slightly browned and drained
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large white onions, chopped
- 52 ounces spaghetti sauce, canned (no meat)
- 8 ounces chicken broth
- 1⁄2 cup dry red wine (e.g., merlot)
- 2 tablespoons honey (or sugar)
- 1 tablespoon Italian spices (see directions)
- 8 fresh garlic cloves (optional)
directions
- Don't "fry" the burger -- just brown it slightly and drain off any excess grease. I use a potato masher to eliminate any chunks of burger.
- In a large cooking pot over medium-high heat, pour in the olive oil and sauté the onions until they begin to caramelize a bit. At this point, add all remaining ingredients, including any minced garlic if you choose to use it.
- Reduce the heat to low and allow the sauce to simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes or so. Do not cook more than 30 minutes or the sauce will begin to "separate" from the meat.
- Use your sauce in your pasta dish after it cools a bit.
- For the ITALIAN SPICES, I always use Dee514's excellent blend. To make up a batch, (for all things Italian!), blend: 2 tablespoons basil; 2 tablespoons marjoram; 1 tablespoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon oregano; 1 tablespoon thyme; 1 tablespoon crushed, dried rosemary; 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes. Recipe #38293.
- NOTE: Just in case you're wondering what I DO put in my lasagna, it's layered lasagna noodles (pre-cooked); ricotta cheese; cottage cheese; Sharp Cheddar Cheese; Parmesan or Manchego cheese (the latter is absolutely delicious and mild); Mozzarella cheese; and; frozen spinach (1/2 box). I top the dish by sprinkling on a little dried basil. It takes a deep casserole dish for all these layers -- the cheap throw-away aluminum turkey roasters, sprayed with PAM, are best but you have to double them. I cover it with aluminum foil, bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes, then take the cover off, and then bump the temperature up to 400°F for another 15 minutes until I get some browning on top.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>