Italian Meat Sauce With Half the Meat

By Martha Rose Shulman

Italian Meat Sauce With Half the Meat
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
30 to 35 minutes
Rating
4(288)
Comments
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It’s been a long time since I have made tomato sauce with meat, and this one transported me back to the first recipe I learned to make. I called it spaghetti sauce, and it was a simple tomato sauce with ground beef. It didn’t taste that much different from this sauce, which has only a quarter pound of meat in it – but that is all it needs to have a rich flavor and a meaty texture. The mushroom base is a perfect stand-in for half the meat; you could double the amount for a vegetarian sauce.

Featured in: Cutting Out the Meat With Mushrooms

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Ingredients

Yield:3 cups, or enough for 9 pasta servings
  • 1tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • ½yellow or red onion, finely chopped
  • 2plump garlic cloves, minced
  • ¼pound ground beef or veal
  • Pinch of ground cinnamon
  • Salt to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • ¼pound (about ⅔ cups) roasted mushroom mix
  • 128-ounce can plus 1 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes in juice, pulsed in a food processor
  • ¼teaspoon sugar
  • 1teaspoon oregano
  • 1teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

113 calories; 7 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 590 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a large, deep skillet or casserole heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes, and add garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds, and turn heat up to medium-high. Add ground beef or veal and brown for about 5 minutes, stirring. Add cinnamon and season to taste with salt and pepper.

  2. Step 2

    Stir in roasted mushroom mix, tomatoes, sugar, oregano and thyme. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a rapid bubble over medium-high heat. Turn heat down to medium, cover partially if sauce is spluttering too much, and simmer, stirring often, until thick and fragrant, 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with pasta, figuring on ⅓ cup per 3-ounce serving.

Tip
  • The sauce will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator and freezes well.

Ratings

4 out of 5
288 user ratings
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Comments

Pete McConnell

It probably defeats the purpose of this but I had some meat I wanted to use up and no mushrooms, so: 1 pound of beef, no mushroom mixture, and a little extra oregano and thyme to punch it up. Totally great. I’d even do this with ground pork sausage or ground turkey. The cinnamon is so subtle but makes a huge difference.

patricia

Please. Drag out the food processor to chop up the canned tomatoes?Break ‘em up with a spoon! Less work and cleanup.

TobyCat

Two T of olive oil didn't seem like enough, so I added 6-8 T more. Mistake. The mushrooms came out wet rather than dry. Great taste but the sauce was runny (though that may be due to using last summer's tomatoes from the freezer). Was the beef necessary? I don't know--I plan to make the sauce again with mushrooms only to see if I miss it. Think this sauce will be great over veggies, btw (lookin' at you, zucchini).

Jayne Ann

Used 1/2 lb ground steak. Roughly chopped mushrooms, mixed in garlic olive oil, salt, pepper. Roasted but did not pulverise. Sautéed onion/ eschallot in olive oil and butter. Doubled garlic. Tomato paste, pinch cinnamon (or garam masala) Za’atar (Palestinian thyme), x 2 Italian Marzano tinned tomatoes (both available on Amazon), 1/2 cup dry sherry, the mushrooms, loads of chopped Coriander. Rinsed tomato tins and added water. No sugar needed w/wine/sherry. Simmer gently for at least an hour.

TobyCat

Two T of olive oil didn't seem like enough, so I added 6-8 T more. Mistake. The mushrooms came out wet rather than dry. Great taste but the sauce was runny (though that may be due to using last summer's tomatoes from the freezer). Was the beef necessary? I don't know--I plan to make the sauce again with mushrooms only to see if I miss it. Think this sauce will be great over veggies, btw (lookin' at you, zucchini).

Maree d.

A beautiful dish but just not quite on the mark. It left me wanting something else included in the ingredients. I am a HUGE fan of mushrooms too but am wondering if whole green Italian green olives added would have worked?

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