Spaghetti Meat Sauce

One of the more labor intensive recipes, but trust me—it’s worth it. You can use this as spaghetti sauce or sauce for lasagna.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup minced yellow onion (about half of a medium yellow onion)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed OR by Spice World, minced or chopped garlic in the jar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 pound hot or mild Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 pound ground sirloin
• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
• 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 (24 oz.) jar of Prego sauce
• ½ cup of red wine (we like a good Cabernet)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil leaves
• ½ teaspoon dried fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• 1 cup of fresh roasted green chile, chopped
• 2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
• Optional: ¼ – ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground sirloin, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, both tomato sauces, green chile and wine.
2. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and parsley.
3. Simmer, covered, for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.