Tomato Meat Sauce with Pasta

Usually I test my recipes several times before I post them. This recipe was such a big hit during Oscar night that I am going to post the first iteration. There are many versions of this sauce that are delicious but for once I am going to stop adjusting and just post as it is. The  sauce has a strong tomato taste seasoned with Italian herbs. If you like these flavors this sauce is for you

My husband and I have a new friend we adore. Her name is Tara and her home is in Berlin with her mother. This school year she is living with her American father and his family here in Santa Cruz. What is amazing about her is that she is truly bi-cultural. She loves German comfort food like dumplings, red cabbage with duck, and  beef- or cabbage rolls. This is similar to food that her German grandmother prepares for her. I enjoy being her substitute grandmother and cooking her favorite meals. Early in the year she was a little homesick but now she enjoys life in Santa Cruz. After making meatloaf, stuffed cabbage, and several other German dishes it was time to change the menu, hence the tomato sauce.

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​Every Sunday I walk to our little farmer’s market around the corner and get whatever looks good. I haven't made a lot of pasta lately but when I went to the market this week I decided to splurge and make pasta with tomato sauce. I bought ground pork from a young farmer who raises pigs on a nearby  farm. The meat was outstanding and I will get it again. I decided to get fresh pasta shells for my sauce and some crusty bread.  Instead of a salad we had artichokes from the market. The sauce was easy to make while watching all the beautiful people on the red carpet. Tara had never seen the Oscars before  and also enjoyed watching them while finishing her homework assignment.

This sauce could easily be vegetarian if your prepare  it without the meat. Substitute regular spaghetti or any other pasta you like. All the vegetables should be finely diced

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Ingredients
Makes 6 servings if you add more pasta

​½ lb ground pork sausage 
1 14 ½ ounce (411g) can stewed and sliced tomatoes
2  14 ½  ounce (425g) cans tomato sauce
5 ounce  (140g) canned tomato paste 
2 garlic clove, minced
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped 
1 large carrot, finally chopped
3 small or ½ sweet red or orange pepper, finely chopped
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS Italian seasoning
¼ tsp brown sugar 
½ tsp or more salt
½ or more freshly ground pepper
3 fresh Basil leaves, chopped
2 dried bay leaves
a pinch of chilly flakes
½ cup or more of pasta water
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1 lb pasta 
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat the olive oil and once the oil is hot break up small chunks of the pork and add them to the pan without stirring. Wait a couple of minutes for the meat to brown and turn it around.

Add all the vegetables and sauté for several minutes. Add the tomatoes with juice and tomato sauce . Add the tomato paste and mix together. Stir in herbs, sugar and bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. 

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions in salted water and drain into a colander saving some of the pasta water for the sauce. 
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Thin out the sauce with some of the pasta water, remove the bay leaves . Serve the sauce on top of the pasta sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. 


Guten Appetit
loosely adapted from a food.com recipe
by © sunnycovechef.com