Italian Meatsauce

Recently, on a 'broke' night and after watching Goodfellas, I went to the market in search of something simple to make.  I ended up buying 3/4 lb of ground pork and 3/4 lb of ground sirloin, 1 can of tomato paste and 1 large (29 oz) can of crushed tomatoes to make meatsauce.  I didn't buy the San Marzanos, but next time I think that I will. (I bought a local organic label, for what its worth)

I started by putting the tomato products, two small diced roma tomatoes, some italian seasoning, dried basil a bay leaf, salt and pepper into a large saucepan on low.

In a separate saute pan on low, I sweat a dried red pepper, 4 cloves of roughly chopped garlic and a small onion in some olive oil. After the onions take on a nice translucent color (but before they turn brown) I put them in the large saucepan. I then ground the pork and beef separately with some salt and pepper, drained and put into the saucepan. I left the whole thing simmer for about an hour.

I served over thin spaghetti and sprinkled some grated parmesano reggiano on top and for about $12 it made 6 servings of the best meatsauce that i've ever had. Imagine - for barely more than the cost of a jar of Prego, you can make something that's 10 times more delicious.

Cheatham Family Chili

This is yet another Cheatham family recipe, this time for Chili. One of Emily's dad's brothers, Roy, lived in Cincinnati for a while and this recipe filtered through the family. Its fairly simple, costs about $10-$15 and takes about an hour and a half to prepare and feeds 4-6.

First step is to finely dice one medium large white onion. Sweat the onion along with a dried chili in a few tbsp of vegetable oil on medium low in a large saucepan for about 5 minutes until they start to turn clear. Add 1 lb of ground meat (we use turkey, but beef or probably any other meat would work fine) and turn heat to medium high and brown with some salt and pepper.

Once completely browned, drain most of the grease and add one large 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes cut in the can into smaller pieces (the higher quality the better but works fine even with regular), one can of dark red kidney beans (drained), about 10 oz tomato sauce, 4 tbsp of chili powder, one more dried chili and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

Cover pot for 35 minutes, then uncover. Heat salted water and cook 3/4 lb of elbow pasta. At about the hour mark, turn off the heat and serve chili over pasta in bowls with crumbled Ritz crackers and grated sharp cheddar on top (not pictured).


Enjoy!