Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!
We have a tradition in our house of making a huge batch of meat sauce in the fall and freezing it for use all year. The recipe is a combination of the recipes we grew up with, both of which have a tomato base. My mother's recipe involves a combination of beef, pork, and lamb; along with garlic, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, red wine and Italian spice blend. My mother-in-law's recipe is similar but uses only beef, no bell pepper or olives, no wine, and dried basil instead of Italian blend. I have merged these two recipes to form my own - I use a combination of beef, pork, and veal (which can be found in stores already mixed as "meatloaf mix"); yes on bell pepper and wine; no on mushrooms and black olives (Jasper doesn't like them); and I use both dried basil and Italian seasoning blend.
My sauce is American style, tried and true, and best served on spaghetti with Parmesan. But this month when the hankering for pasta came on, I decided to try some new things and see what would happen.