When I threw this together I was just looking for something different from my other favorite recipe.  It was so good, I can’t wait to make it again.  It was thick and delicious.  I did make this again without the Italian sausage (it’s not something I often have on hand) and it was still very good.

I like to make extra and freeze the rest.  For a different change of paste, I combine the sauce with rotini, top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Ingredients

• 2lb ground beef, browned
• 1lb bulk Italian sausage, browned
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• Red wine vinegar, enough to deglaze (1/4-1/2c)
• 1 qt. diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 qt. tomato sauce
• 2-6oz tomato paste
• 3ts dried basil
• 2ts dried parsley
• 1 1/2 ts brown sugar
• 1ts salt
• 1/4 ts pepper
• Cooked pasta of choice – we like traditional spaghetti but also angel hair pasta or rotini.

Method:

1. Begin browning the sausage and ground beef.  Remove the meat to a pot once brown but save the drippings.
2. Saute the onion in the beef drippings until soft.
3. Add garlic at the very end of the onion cooking and cook until fragrant.
4. Remove the onion and garlic, adding them to the pot with the browned meat, then over high heat deglaze the skillet with red wine vinegar, just enough to loosen the brown bits and provide a little moisture.  Add this moisture to the beef.  Add the remaining ingredients.
5. Bring to a boil, and then simmer at least 20 minutes – the longer it simmers, the better it will taste.  This would also cook up great in a crockpot on low for 4-6 hours, though I would probably add half a cup of water if you will be cooking it longer than 4 hours.