Comfort food - shell pasta with fennel, pork and beef ragu

Some nights I want nothing more than to just make spaghetti and meat sauce. Usually if I am thinking about it I will make enough meatballs on a Sunday to feed us throughout the week. Now I am not talking about eating meatballs everyday, well I guess I am. What we usually do is have the traditional spaghetti and meatballs dish a few times and on other nights maybe a meatball sub or meatball sliders. They keep fairly well in the sauce and are easily reheated in whatever form we would like to use them in. Being in full spring mode now I find it difficult to sit down and cook like this at an early time when I could be outside enjoying the weather before it gets to the typical summer in Louisiana where it is 100 degrees and H U M I D.

An easy fix is meat sauce, not as labor intensive as meatballs and as close as you can get to a one pot meal. What I normally like to do is combine equal parts ground meat and ground pork, throw in some crushed fennell seeds, garlic, red pepper and saute away. Once browned I throw in some crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Throw in some pasta and you have dinner. It is easily reheated for lunch as the pictures below attest.

In other news my tomato garden is coming along pretty well.

       

Comments

[Deborah Dowd]

This really looks delicious, and a unique way to incorporate fennel for a twist on the traditional!