Spaghetti Sauce

Happy Monday!!!  With school starting today and my garden having a ton of vegetables ready...I thought yesterday was a good time to make a batch of spaghetti sauce while picking up around the house today.  What a good idea I had! I usually always have a stash of spaghetti sauce jarred for those nights where I need a quick,  go to meal.  I've been out for some time now {shame on me}!  So onto cleaning up I went, as I had to stir my simmering sauce...pretty much all afternoon :)

So for those of you interested, here's my recipe!  It's a mix between my our grandmothers recipes that I played with to make my own.   Inspired from our Quebec roots, it might be a little different from the typical American sauces.  So here are needed ingredients;

2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
4 1/2 lbs ground pork 

1 big bottle V8 vegetable juice

1 (12oz) can of tomato purée

3-4 small cans of tomato paste

4 tbs ketchup

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

2 carrots diced

6 celery stalks diced

6-8 onions

2 large shallots minced

6-8 cloves of garlic minced

2 cps of mushrooms

1 tsp oregano

2-3 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp sariette spice

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp mint flakes

1-2 tsp garlic salt

4-6 bay leaves

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ( more if you want more of a kick)
1/2 brick of firm tofu cut in small cubes

Salt and pepper to taste

So for the meat I sometimes do a combination of veal and pork or beef and pork or even deer meat. and pork.  Whatever I have on hand.  I love adding the tofu {we're not big on tofu...} because you don't really taste it, but you get all the nutrients it has to offer.

I start off with 2 tbs of butter and 2 tbs of olive oil in the bottom of my pot.  I then sweat all my veggies for about 10 minutes or until onions become translucent.  I then add all my liquid ingdients with the exception of tomato paste.  Add all spices and bring to a boil.  I then add my raw meat making sure to press the meat against the sides of the pot to avoid any lumps of meat.  I simmer my sauce for about 3 hours stirring pretty often to avoid any sticking or burning at the bottom of my pot.  1/2 hour to an hour before the sauce is ready, I add the tomato paste, mix it in well and continue simmering.

Butter and Olive oil :)

 Diced up veggies

Sweating veggies

Voila!

Once done, I store in mason jars which I then boil in my pressure cooker/ canner.  It is soooo good ;). I love my spaghetti sauce.  It doesn't have too many spices but it tastes just right to us.  I hope you'll try it and let me know what you think ;). Happy cooking to you!  Hope you all have a fun "back to school" week, I know it's going to be a little hectic around here...just the way we like it!!!