American Meat Sauce Recipes

MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and sausage until totally browned. Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and put it into a bowl. Set aside.
• Discard any grease in the pot, but do not clean the pot. Drizzle in the olive oil. When it is heated, throw in the onions and bell peppers. Stir it around for 1 1/2 minutes, and then add the garlic. Stir and cook for an additional minute.
• Pour in the wine and allow it to bubble up and reduce for about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, marinara sauce and tomato paste. Stir to combine, and then add the sugar, salt, oregano, thyme, crushed red pepper if using and bay leaves. Stir, and then add the cooked ground beef and sausage and stir to combine. Place the lid on the pot and allow to simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add a little water or some low-sodium broth if it needs more liquid.
• After an hour, add the minced parsley and the Parmesan rind if using (or grated Parmesan if you prefer--or both!). Stir to combine, and then put the lid back on and allow it to simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Discard the bay leaves before serving.
• Serve a big bowl of oiled noodles and the meat sauce so guests can serve themselves. Top each serving with minced parsley and grated Parmesan (or Parmesan shavings) and serve with a big piece of garlic-cheese bread.

BASIC MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add tomatoes and juice, breaking up tomatoes. Simmer over medium heat until thickened and saucy, 45 to 60 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

ALL-AMERICAN MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove crusts from bread, and place slices in the bowl of a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form, about 10 seconds. Transfer breadcrumbs to a large mixing bowl. Do not substitute dried breadcrumbs in this step, as they will make your meatloaf rubbery.
• Place carrot, celery, yellow onion, garlic, and parsley in the bowl of the food processor. Process until vegetables have been minced, about 30 seconds, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. (Chopping vegetables this way saves time and ensures that vegetables will be small enough to cook through and not be crunchy). Transfer vegetables to bowl with the breadcrumbs.
• Add 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 teaspoons dry mustard, pork, veal, beef, eggs, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and rosemary. Using your hands, knead the ingredients until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. The texture should be wet, but tight enough to hold a free-form shape.
• Set a wire baking rack into an 11-by-17-inch baking pan. Cut a 5-by-11-inch piece of parchment paper, and place over center of rack to prevent meat loaf from falling through. Using your hands, form an elongated loaf covering the parchment.
• Place the remaining 3 tablespoons ketchup, remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons mustard, and brown sugar in a bowl. Mix until smooth. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the glaze over loaf. Place oil in a medium saucepan set over high heat. When oil is smoking, add red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and golden in places. Add 3 tablespoons water, and cook, stirring, until most of the water has evaporated. Transfer onion to a bowl to cool slightly, then sprinkle onion over the meatloaf.
• Bake 30 minutes, then sprinkle rosemary needles on top. Continue baking loaf until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf registers 160 degrees. about 25 minutes more. Let meatloaf cool on rack, 15 minutes.

ALL-AMERICAN MEAT LOAF

Steps:

• Saute green pepper and onion in oil in a large skillet until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Transfer to a large bowl; cool to room temperature., Preheat oven to 350°. Add eggs, milk, bread, cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper to sauteed vegetables. Crumble beef and pork over mixture and mix well., Pat into 2 greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Combine ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar in a small bowl. Spread over tops. , Bake, uncovered, 50-55 minutes or until no pink remains and a thermometer reads 160°. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Freeze option: Shape meat loaves in plastic wrap-lined loaf pans; top with ketchup mixture. Cover and freeze until firm. Remove from pan and wrap securely in foil; return to freezer. Freeze up to 3 months. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 350°. Unwrap meat loaf and place in pan. Bake, uncovered, 1-1/4-1-1/2 hours, or until a thermometer reads 160°.

SOUTHERN-STYLE MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large pot heat olive oil. Add onions and simmer on medium heat until semi soft; stir in garlic. Be careful not to burn. Add ground beef and cook until all pink is gone; drain.
• In pot with drained beef, gently stir in tomato paste and tomato sauce. Mix in oregano, basil, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, mushrooms, bay leaves and salt; bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer for about 2 hours.

ALL-AMERICAN BARBECUE SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, vinegar, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper, allspice, coriander, and cumin in a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly.

AMERICAN CHOP SUEY (PASTA SHELLS WITH MEAT)

Steps:

• (In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon for about 2 minutes or until it renders enough fat to lightly coat pan.) or just use vegetable oil to coat pan.
• Add garlic, onion, (bell pepper), and Italian seasoning and cook until onion just begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
• Increase heat to high. Add beef(or ground chicken) and saute, breaking up with a wooden spoon , until lightly browned , about 5 minutes.
• Mix in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, soy sauce and macaroni.
• Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 14 minutes.
• Season to taste with Salt and Pepper and enjoy!