Herself's Recipes

As prices climb and the stock market falls it gets harder to toss food at the end of the week.  I clean out the fridge on Mondays so that’s my night to make pasta sauce.  This sauce takes about 10 minutes to put together. The flavor comes from the various vegetables and meat that have been cooked previously in different ways.

Take last week’s left over meat and vegetables.  I prefer more meat than vegetables, but whatever is in the fridge I use.  Grind it in the food processor, you want about 2 cups worth of ground cooked meat and vegetables.

In a large skillet add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic.  Slowly brown garlic.

After garlic browns add your ground meats and vegetables. Cook until meat and vegetables are warm.

Then add 1 can tomato paste ( 6 oz ), 6 oz water  or wine and 1 can diced tomatoes ( ~ 15 oz )

Let simmer on the lowest heat for a half hour.

Serve over your favorite pasta.

Most importantly the cost of this meal is just the pasta, 1 can of paste and 1 can of diced tomatoes. The rest was leftovers or things you have in the fridge.

Bolognese is a great way to use up leftover meats. I prefer to use leftover ribs and rib roast but any meat will do: duck, chicken, turkey, beef, pork… The richer the meat the richer your sauce will be.

In a crockpot mix:

6 oz tomato paste ( 1 can )
6 oz water
1 cup white wine
1 cup milk ( whole milk or cream is best )
30 oz diced tomatoes ( 2 cans )

diced carrots ( ~ 2 )
diced onion ( ~ 1 small to medium )
diced celery ( ~ 1 large )
3 oz diced pancetta ( bacon will work if you don’t have pancetta )

1 to 2 pounds leftover meat ( shredded is best, diced very small if that’s not possible ) If you use less meat you need to cook longer to reduce the sauce, if you use more you can cook it a little less time before it thickens.

Put the crockpot on its lowest setting ( keep warm on some newer pots ) and cook uncovered for about 8 hours. You want the sauce to thicken up like a sloppy joe or chili mixture.

More traditional sauces use about half as much tomato paste as I have in this recipe and eliminate the garlic. Some people also add mushrooms. You’ll want to experiment and find what suits you best.

Bolognese sauces are also known as ragu sauces. The history of bolognese sauce is not clear. It was served in wealthy courts to noble families in the 1500s. The word ragu comes from the 18th century French word ragout. Bologna is supposed to be the city of origin. Beyond that not much is known.

I found two recipes for meat stuffing in my grandmother’s recipes, both are listed here

4 medium potatoes
1 small onion diced
1 Tbsp diced celery
1 tsp chopped parsley
1/4 ground beef
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 pound butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp aromatic bitters
1/2 tsp salt

Peel and boil potatoes
Saute onions, celery and parsley, in a small amount of the butter, in large skillet Add meat to skillet and cook until done
Drain and mash potatoes with remaining butter
Combine all and mix well
Let stuffing cool before stuffing bird

2 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 medium onions diced
salt, pepper, poultry seasoning to taste
2 large potatoes
Simmer meat and onions together slowly until done
Boil and mash potatoes
Combine ingredients and cool before stuffing bird

I can’t date the paper my grandmother cut this out of, but on the back side is an add for a box of 24 Hershey Chocolate Bars for 85 cents.