The Cowboy’s Bolognese Sauce

We LOVE spaghetti in this house…really any kind of pasta in a tomato sauce is a win for all of us! Arturo made this Bolognese Sauce one day when we wanted a hearty plate of spaghetti but didn’t have any already prepared jarred sauce and we have not looked back since! It is very good and super simple! We hope you enjoy it as much as our little cowboys do!

It is still cold here in the Flint Hills! This Bolognese Sauce served over spaghetti sure warmed us up last night! Enjoy!

Cowboy’s Bolognese Sauce

1 small onion
1 carrot
28 oz jar of pureed tomatoes
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves of garlic
1 lb of ground beef
3 tbsp. of tomato paste
3 tbsp. of pesto
Salt and pepper

Place the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in a food processor and puree. Coat the bottom of a heavy stock pot with olive oil and sauté the purred veggies. When the veggies just begin to stick to the bottom of the pot add your ground beef and finely break apart using a spatula.

Salt the veggies and beef and continue cooking stirring occasionally until browned. Add the tomato paste once the meat is browned.

Cook the paste for a minute or two. Add your pureed tomatoes, pesto and season with salt again if needed.

Cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes. However, the longer you let it simmer the more intense the flavors will be. We like to let it simmer for 2-3 hours if possible and if starts to dry out you can add beef stock to loosen up the sauce again.

We serve this delicious sauce over any type of pasta! The boys love Penne, because it is easy to eat for them, but they are starting to learn the art of twisting you fork in spaghettie noodles! Last night I, Wrenn, enjoyed this over spaghetti squash for a little carb free version…so good!!!

Note: We use a quart jar of canned tomatoes from our garden, but a 28 oz can of purred tomatoes will work great too. We also make pesto in the summer with fresh basil from the garden and freeze it in baggies. Then break of a chunk as we need it through the year. So you will notice in the photos a couple of pieces of frozen pesto being melted down into the sauce, but you can buy a jar of pesto from the store and do the same thing.

Cowboy's Bolognese Sauce

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Ingredients

  

• 1 small onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 28 oz pureed tomatoes
• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste
• 3 tbsp. pesto
• salt and pepper

Instructions

 

• Place the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in a food processor and puree. 
• Coat the bottom of a heavy stock pot with olive oil and sauté the pureed veggies. 
• When the veggies just begin to stick to the bottom of the pot add your ground beef and finely break apart using a spatula. Salt the veggies and beef and continue cooking stirring occasionally until browned. 
• Add the tomato paste once the meat is browned. Cook the paste for a minute or two
• Add your pureed tomatoes, pesto and season with salt again if needed. 
• Cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes. However, the longer you let it simmer the more intense the flavors will be. We like to let it simmer for 2-3 hours if possible and if starts to dry out you can add beef stock to loosen up the sauce again.