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Andreas' no-fail pasta sauce recipe

This is by no means an authentic recipe. It has worked very well for me, though! So enjoy.

Ingredients

Serves 2-3 people

• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (make sure there are no spices in there)
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste (ideally, un-spiced too)
• 1 lbs of meat. I've used:
• Ground not-quite-lean meat (I tend to use beef) - my default, gives the "pasta asciutta" type sauce I ate as a kid
• Beef stew or stir fry cuts - adds about 30min to the simmering time, but is very oily & substantial.
• Spicy italian sausage - makes spicy, dense sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• "any" stew vegetables you like (all are fully optional):
• sliced carrots?
• Fresh tomatoes?
• 1 tbsp Basil
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 Bay leaf

Preparation

1. Cut the onion, open cans of stuff (you'll need them ~urgently later)
2. Prepare any fresh tomatoes if you plan on using them - remove skin and seeds.
3. Get a (deep) plate or bowl to set meat aside on (gonna need that ~urgently too).
4. If you have any solid pieces of meat (sausage, beef stew cuts), dice them into 3/4-inch pieces.
5. In a large metal pot on high heat, put in 1 tbsp olive oil, wait until the oil gets hot (but stop it from smoking).
6. Put in the meat, stir until it's brown on all sides (if using ground beef, until juices run clear); some meat will stick to the sides of the pot, and that's great.
7. Remove the meat onto the plate along with all juices.
8. In the same pot, drop in the last 1 tbsp of olive oil, heat it again
9. Sautee onions until transparent
10. Pour in the tomato sauce, tomato paste (and fresh tomatoes), stir to free up any of the meat residue that stuck to the pot.
11. Stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil again.
12. Add oregano, basil, the bay leaf, and the meat you set aside. Stir to cover the meat with sauce.
13. Reduce heat, cover and let it simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour
14. (By now, the whole house should smell like pasta sauce.)
15. Add the garlic (minced or whole, it doesn't matter) and any additional vegetables.
16. Salt to taste.
17. Let them simmer for as long as it takes them to get tender, or another 20min.
18. (Now's a great time to start preparing your noodles, or spaghetti squash)
19. Done! Feel free to remove or leave in bay leaves or garlic cloves before serving.