Beef, bacon and chorizo pasta sauce

The holidays are almost over. But until they are, there will still be a lot of unexpected guests and gatherings. The other day, I decided to make a huge pot of pasta sauce that would go well with spaghetti, macaroni or even lasagne, put it in an airtight container and kept it in the fridge. In case of emergency, I will only need to boil some pasta, reheat the sauce, toss them together, top them with grated parmesan cheese and serve them with buttered toast.

This was how I used the broth made by simmering the ham bone.

But, of course, we “tried out” the sauce first. Had this beef, bacon and chorizo spaghetti for lunch the other day.

Ingredients :

500 g. of ground sirloin
250 g. of belly bacon
1-2 pieces of chorizo de bilbao
3 red bell peppers
3 green bell peppers
2 large white onions
1 whole head of garlic
2 bay leaves
2 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves
2 c. of tomato paste
about 8 c. of very good meat broth
1/4 c. of olive oil
2 tbsps. of butter
salt
pepper
sugar

Cooking procedure :

Slice the belly bacon as finely as you can.

Chop the chorizo coarsely.

Chop the onions finely.

Mince the garlic.

Core, deseed and finely chop the bell peppers.

Coarsely chop the basil leaves.

Heat the olive oil and butter together in a large thick-bottomed cooking pan. Lightly brown the ground sirloin and sliced belly bacon together. Add the chopped chorizo and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until the chorizo starts to render its reddish color. Add the garlic, onions, bell peppers and bay leaves. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Pour in the broth. Add the tomato paste. Stir to dissolve the tomato paste. Season with salt, pepper and a little sugar to cut the acidity of the tomato paste (that’s a Biba Caggiano tip). Add the basil leaves, cover the cooking pan and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Taste and add more salt, pepper and sugar if necessary.

Note: If you want a thicker sauce, use less meat broth and add more tomato paste.