Winter for one more day: Bolognese Sauce

It's Friday yeah!  It is also cold and really wet.  I should consider myself lucky though since we are only suppose to get rain.  I cannot believe Maine could get a foot of snow.  Yick.  It is April 1st.  I think this is some kind of cruel joke. 

In order to make it through this bone chilling wet day I came up with a warm you from the inside out recipe.  I don't know why I have never made Bolognese sauce.  I guess it is because I love meatballs. Whenever I crave pasta meatballs are somewhere in the picture too. 

I had an ephipany though when I saw this recipe has carrots and celery in it.  In my mind that means healthy.  The recipe below is done for a smaller portion but we still had enough for another dinner's worth to freeze.  I also used a turkey and beef mixture of meat because that was what I had in the freezer.  The more appropriate combination is beef, veal and pork.   Maybe next time, but this was good.  I actually looked for some veal but could not find any at the too closest stores. 

My pile of pasta.  I loved every bit of it.

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrot, minced
1 celery stalk, minced
1 onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
Pepper
1 LBS of meat (beef and turkey
1 24 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian spice mix
Pasta, cooked

Chop up all veggies.

Saute in pot with olive oil and butter.

Add meat and stir until all of the meat breaks apart.

Cook through.

Add crushed tomatoes and simmer for 30-45 minutes.  The loner it cookes the thicker the mixture.  I have seen recipes for up to an hour.  I have also seen crock pot recipes for this sauce. 

I perfer lots of red sauce so I used crushed tomatoes to make the sauce more of a sauce.  I have seen just using diced tomatoes.  

I began this recipe in the morning and simmered for about 30 minutes.  That evening I only had to cook it for about 15 more minutes and make the pasta.  It was a really quick dinner to put together.  The sauce can also be made a day or two in advance, or frozen in an airtight container.  Enjoy!