Spaghetti Sauce……enough said

Spaghetti, blessed spaghetti.   My.  Favorite.  Food.   For you food purists, there isn’t a single fresh tomato or herb from the garden in this sauce and because this is my favorite food in the world, I haven’t bothered trying to rework the recipe to use fresh ingredients.  When I decided to post this recipe I was forced to stop and think as I made the sauce because the “recipe” hasn’t ever been written.  I’ve always adjusted the spices as it simmered.  And so YJ, this is for you.  The sauce finally has a “recipe”.

This is a hearty sauce with both ground beef and Italian sausage links and can be used over pasta or with a baked lasagna.

Cut the Italian sausage in half crossways and brown all sides .  (The sausage doesn’t need to be cooked through at this point because it will finish cooking in the sauce as it simmers.) 

While the sausage is browning, combine all of the canned tomoto items into a large simmering pot and when the sausage is done browning, add it to the pot.  Place the ground beef into a saute pan and cook it throuh, breaking it up as you go.  When is it completely cooked through, drain the fat from the pan and add the ground beef to the simmering pot.

Add all spices, mix everything together well, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or longer, stirring every 15 – 20 minutes.

When I serve this sauce, I always add a 1/2 tablespoon of butter right on top of each bowl of  pasta and then place the sauce on top of that and then combine the pasta and sauce.  The butter adds such an incredible richness and velvety feel to the sauce in your mouth.