Beef and Sausage Ragu

Beef and Sausage Ragù is a zesty, hearty sauce.  I created it to serve with bucatini, which was my late father’s favorite pasta; it’s also great with baked macaroni made with ziti, penne or rigatoni.  This recipe makes quite a lot of sauce.  If you’re not using all of it at once, portion out the remaining Beef and Sausage Ragù into containers and freeze for future use within a month.  Start with Breaded Cauliflower followed by your main course of Beef and Sausage Ragù paired with a Chianti for a real Italian dinner.

Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes, Serves: 8 over pasta.

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Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Cooking Oil (Olive/Canola Oil blend is recommended)
• 1 lb Ground Beef, 80/20 blend
• 1 lb Hot Italian Sausage, meat removed from casings if using links
• 1 6-inch sprig of fresh Rosemary
• 2 tsp Fennel Seed
• 1 medium Onion, peeled and diced
• 4 cloves of Garlic, peeled and trimmed and minced
• 1 Bay Leaf, preferably fresh
• 1 tsp dried Oregano
• 1 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 tsp ground Sage
• 1 ½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp Smoked Sweet Paprika
• 1 tsp Sweet Paprika
• 1 28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 6 oz can Tomato Paste
• ½ cup dry Red Wine (Malbec, Chianti, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or a dry Red Wine blend)
• ½ cup Water
• 1 Tb drained Capers
• ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation:

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the cooking oil over a medium-high heat. Using your hands, break up the ground beef and hot Italian sausage meat and add to the hot oil.  Sauté the meats, uncovered, until just beginning to brown.
2. While the meats are browning, strip the leaves from the rosemary sprig and chop finely. Add to the meats along with the fennel seed, stir to mix into the browned meats and continue to cook uncovered for another minute.
3. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf to the pot; stir, cover and continue to cook until the onion begins to soften.
4. Mix the seasonings, oregano through sweet paprika, together in a small bowl and add to the pot, stir to mix, cover and cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, water and capers to the pot; stir thoroughly, cover, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook until the sauce is bubbling. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
6. Remove the bay leaf, add the extra virgin olive oil to the now-thickened sauce, stir, cover and remove from the heat.