Amazing Meat Sauce

I love making homemade pasta sauce. Adding ground beef or turkey will create a delicious meat sauce to be added to ziti/penne/mostacioli (depending on where you are from) to make a Baked ___ (fill in the pasta name), Lasagna, or even to be used in Stuffed Shells or Manicotti. Here is my homemade meat sauce recipe:

• 1 Tbsp. EVOO
• 1 lb. ground turkey (or 90/10 ground beef)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 oz. (1/2 small can) of tomato paste
• crushed red pepper, to taste
• dried oregano, to taste
• dried rosemary, to taste
• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• salt, to taste
• fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
• beef bullion (to taste) - or beef broth/concentrate beef flavor (I use Knorr Beef Homestyle Sock cups - about 1/2 of an individual cup for the recipe NOT 1/2 Cup measured!)
• water, as needed

1.  Heat EVOO in a medium sauce pot over medium high heat.

2. Brown the ground turkey.

3. Add chopped onions, garlic, salt, and pepper.

4.  Stir in the tomato paste, crushed red pepper, oregano, and rosemary.

(I don't use measuring spoons for herbs/spices - I measure in my palm, and add more if needed).

5. Add the crushed tomatoes, honey, and beef stock.

(The honey was not measured either. Slowly drizzle for 3 1-second counts for about 1 Tbsp. of honey)

*Note: Adding Beef stock (or chicken stock if you prefer) makes the dish taste like it has been simmering on the stove all day, while you only really spent about 30 minutes making it. It is a GREAT trick!

6. Let the sauce simmer while the pasta cooks. 

This is your basic meat sauce. This sauce can be used in Baked Ziti, Lasagna, or Stuffed Shells/Manicotti. 

For Lasagna: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Parboil 9 lasagna sheets. Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Add 1/2 C of sauce. Layer 3 lasagna sheets for bottom layer. Add 1/3 of the remaining sauce, and 1/3 of a bag of shredded low moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese. Repeat 2 more times. Sprinkle the top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake, covered for 15 minutes, and then uncovered for another 15 minutes, to allow the cheese to brown. Serve, and enjoy!

*Note: You can layer in some ricotta if you like, but my family does not like the taste or texture of ricotta, so we always omit that ingredient.

For No Ricotta Baked Ziti: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir 1 box of pasta with the meat sauce. Pour half of the pasta and sauce into a casserole dish that is sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1/2 bag of shredded low moisture part-skim Mozzarella cheese, and add the rest of the pasta and sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining bag of cheese. Add 3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese (from the green can is fine). 

*Note: You can stir in some ricotta if you like.

No Ricotta Baked Ziti

I hope this inspires you to get into the kitchen and make a pasta sauce from scratch!

xoxo, 

Colleen