Spaghetti

Who doesn't have spaghetti once a week? No doubt there is someone but he is a rare breed. For the first time I'm using mild Italian sausage instead of ground pork and extra lean ground sirloin for the beef.  Overall I had about 600gm (1 1/2 pounds) sausage and 900gm (2 pounds) beef. Other ingredients:

Spaghetti Sauce

1 liter (1 quart) crushed tomatoes 

1 can tomato paste

1 can Aylmer tomato soup (if Aylmer not available, leave out, don't substitute)

2 onions

2 sticks celery

3 carrots

3 cloves garlic

7 mushrooms

1/2 cup diced sweet peppers

2 or 3 bay leaves

salt

pepper

I started by dicing and caramelizing 2 onions then removing from the pan.  Next I sweated the carrots, then the celery and garlic and finally the mushrooms. I sliced open the sausages and browned the meat followed by the ground sirloin.  Finally, everything went back in the pot with crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, Aylmer tomato soup, 1/2 cup diced sweet peppers, 2 or 3 bay leaves, salt and pepper.

When I first put everything in the pot there was very little sauce and it was pale or clear, not red.  I had hours to let it simmer so I didn't put anything else in. About 2 hours later the featureless sauce had developed a satisfying red color. Who knew? (real chefs) Obviously I still have lots to learn. 

I'm using Barilla pasta and freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese on top. Yum!