This is my pork mince pasta sauce recipe, heavily inspired by my Grandma’s recipe. I cook it in a casserole dish with a lid in the oven for about 4 hours. This is not quick food, but it’s well worth the wait and this recipe makes about 6-7 big portions, suitable for freezing.
Ingredients
- 1kg pork mince
- a little olive oil
- 2 onions
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 4 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
- 2 x 140g cans tomato purée
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Process
- Chop the onions and fry them in the olive oil for 5 mins (don’t brown them)
- Finely chop and add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes
- Add the pork mince, fry on a high heat until it’s no longer pink
- Add everything else, mix well and bring to boil
- Put lid on pot, put in pre-heated oven at 150 degrees celsius
- cook for 4 hours, stirring once an hour or so
It’s interesting to taste the sauce as it cooks – it really does get better and better the longer you leave it. I used to cook it on a regular stove top but it required almost constant stirring to avoid burning so now I cook it in the casserole dish.
If you like it wetter, add some passata. You can probably leave out the brown sugar – I’ve not really been able to tell a difference with or without it myself.
Serve with spaghetti with plenty of parmesan cheese and black pepper.