We have now made this dish several times and it is now our “quick” ragù clocking in around three and half hours, as opposed to our regular ragù made with pork shoulder that takes a little longer. If you can find the mix of beef, veal and chicken or pork get it otherwise you just need two pounds of ground meat. This takes very little prep time and then a good stir and watching the heat for several hours, which makes it a great pandemic dish. If you let it go too long you can always add a little more water or wine to get it a little saucier but it should be very thick. We’ve served this with gnocchi, homemade pasta and store bought pasta – they each turned out great.

Ingredients

• 1 lb spicy pork sausage
• 1 lb ground pork (or a combo of beef, veal and chicken)
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• ½ cup+ dry red wine
• 28oz whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 cup+ water
• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh thyme
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan

Instructions

1. Sauté spicy pork sausage and ground pork with a little olive oil in a large Dutch oven.
2. Drain in a bowl with paper towels.
3. Chop onion, carrots, celery and garlic and sauté in the Dutch oven using all that pork fat and olive oil.
4. Add some salt and pepper and sweat those veggies for 12-ish minutes.
5. Add in tomato paste, stirring constantly for about a minute.
6. Pour in the red wine and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
7. Add tomatoes, smush tomatoes with your hands and pour in the rest of the juices.
8. Add about a cup of water to the tomato can, getting the rest of the tomato goodness and pour into the Dutch oven.
9. Add the meat back into party.
10. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme.
11. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and bubble and brew for 3.5 hours with lid ajar, until thick. Stirring every once and a while.
12. Serve with your favorite pasta or gnocchi, top with parmesan cheese.