Open source pasta sauce

This is my pork mince pasta sauce recipe, heavily inspired by my Grandma’s recipe. I cook it in a casserole dish with a lid in the oven for about 4 hours. This is not quick food, but it’s well worth the wait and this recipe makes about 6-7 big portions, suitable for freezing.

Ingredients

• 1kg pork mince
• a little olive oil
• 2 onions
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 4 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 140g cans tomato purée
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Process

1. Chop the onions and fry them in the olive oil for 5 mins (don’t brown them)
2. Finely chop and add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes
3. Add the pork mince, fry on a high heat until it’s no longer pink
4. Add everything else, mix well and bring to boil
5. Put lid on pot, put in pre-heated oven at 150 degrees celsius
6. cook for 4 hours, stirring once an hour or so

It’s interesting to taste the sauce as it cooks – it really does get better and better the longer you leave it. I used to cook it on a regular stove top but it required almost constant stirring to avoid burning so now I cook it in the casserole dish.

If you like it wetter, add some passata. You can probably leave out the brown sugar – I’ve not really been able to tell a difference with or without it myself.

Serve with spaghetti with plenty of parmesan cheese and black pepper.