Weeknight Bolognese Sauce

With just a few ingredients and 10 minutes you can upgrade any jar of marinara. I call this “weeknight” bolognese sauce because it’s one of my go-to’s after a long day, but I would gladly make this any night of the week.

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Weeknight Bolognese Sauce
Serves: 2 to 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbs olive oil
• Half of a yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves (never trust a recipe that lists “1 garlic clove” as an ingredient. This is a lie.)
• 1-2 tbs Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt/pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine (optional but suggested)
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce/marinara
• 1 pound ground beef
• Optional: 1 pound ground pork, ground veal, ground turkey, or any other ground meat you have in the fridge.
• Parmesan and parsley
• Pasta!

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DIRECTIONS

1. Dice the onion and garlic
2. Heat the olive oil in pan over medium high heat
3. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) add the onion to the pan, stir around and after a minutes, add the garlic and continue to stir for another minute.
4. Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, about a half tsp of salt, about a half tsp of pepper, and continue to stir. It should start to stick to the pan a bit after a minute or so.
5. Add half a cup of red wine (or more!) to deglaze the pan. Stir once or twice until the liquid has cooked away, about a minute or two. If not using red wine, jump to step 6.
6. Add the ground beef, and any other ground meat you might be using. While it’s cooking add the garlic powder and more salt and pepper. Let it cook through, and continue to stir to combine.
7. Turn the heat down, add the jar of tomato sauce and stir to combine the onions and garlic.
8. Once the sauce has started to bubble, give it a taste. Now is when you get to improvise and make any changes you want. At this point I usually add about a teaspoon of sugar if the sauce isn’t sweet enough. If it’s too sweet or I added too much sugar I’ll add a pinch of salt. I almost always add more freshly cracked pepper.
9. Did I forget to tell you to make the pasta? I always forget to make pasta until the sauce is done… so if you read these instructions before you started – get going on the pasta! If you didn’t, I apologize.
10. Plate with a bed of pasta, topped with a heaping cup or two of sauce, and garnish with a little chopped parsley.

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NOTES

• Let’s talk about “deglazing.” This fancy word you see on menus and in recipes literally just means “removing and dissolving browned food residue from a pan to flavor sauces, soups, and gravies.” (Thanks Oxford dictionary.) Traditionally it’s done with wine but you can use chicken stock, juice, or anything else that might fit what you’re cooking.
• I almost always add ground pork if I’m lucky enough to have some in the freezer. It takes this meal to the next level.
• Chances are you are going to make this recipe your own, very quickly. Don’t like spicy food? Leave the red pepper flakes out. Like it really spicy? Add way more than I do. That’s the whole point so go for it!
• Vegetarian? Just leave the meat out and add chopped portobello mushrooms to “beef” this recipe up a bit for you!