Red Sauce [Matt]

this recipe is based off a bolognese sauce that a couple of my roommates in parma taught me while i worked there for a summer. it has a several more ingredients than they put it (and also subtracted the meat), but it still follows the old italian cooking philosophy of 'use what you have around to cook with'... i just happened to have a lot around.

take a large sauce pot and heat just below medium.
- 1/3 cup olive oil (enough to coat the bottom)

- add pinch of salt
as the ingredients below are finished being chopped toss them into the sauce pot to start cooking...
- 1 large onion, dice and add to pot
- 1 1/2 carrots (or 7 baby carrots), mince then add.
remember to stir. no need to start this sauce off burnt.
- 2 stalks celery fine diced. add to sauce pot.
- (optional) 2 habanero peppers, fine dice and add to pot.
- 7- 8 cloves of garlic. mince and add to pot. begin opening the canned tomatoes (be sure to get the kind without spice or other flavors added).
- 2 large cans of tomatoes (i prefer diced, unseasoned) and small can of sauce. after a minute and a half of the garlic cooking, add the canned tomatoes. this will slow of all the veggies you've added from cooking too much.
- add oregano and thyme, preferably fresh chopped.
- add paprika and nutmeg. nutmeg is better if fresh ground on a microplane.
- 1/2 cups of wine. if you plan to add meat later, use red wine. if you're looking for a lighter sauce add white wine.
- 1/3 cup rough chopped basil.
let sauce simmer for another 20 minutes. be sure to continue to stir.

((((cook track)))) Mystikal - Bouncin' Back