1 15-ozcan tomato pureeor sauce, but not marinara/spagetti sauce
½cupbeef stockor dry red wine
¼cupno salt added tomato paste
bay leaf
¼cupfresh chopped parsley
¼cupfreshly grated romano cheese
pastafor serving - pasta that is wide like fresh egg noodles or pappardelle.
Instructions
Dice the onion, carrot, celery, and mushrooms super tiny.
Heat a large pot of water to boiling.
Cook the pasta to package directions. Drain, and set aside, keeping warm.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Dice the bacon into small pieces and cook until mostly done. Remove from pan and set aside. Keep drippings in the pan.
Add the onion, carrot and mushrooms to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes.
Add in the garlic and stir for 30 seconds, or until nice and fragrant.
Add in the ground beef and italian seasoning and cook for 10 minutes, or until the beef is browned, stirring frequently.
Stir in the diced tomatoes, the tomato sauce, the liquid of choice (water, wine or broth), and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with freshly grated romano cheese and freshly chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
Notes
Mince the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms are finely as you can. This will not only speed up cooking time, but will also help to deepen the flavor as it cooks better and hide any unwanted specs that diners might discover (namely, your husband will never know you put mushrooms in there, unless he reads this, which he most likely won't....)