I love spicy Italian food… My meat sauce began with red and Thai eggplants (skinned, diced, and seeded), chopped maitake mushrooms and red onion, fresh minced garlic, dried basil, s&p, and dried wild oregano. All sautéed in butter and evoo. Fresh crushed grape, and peeled Roma tomatoes were added once all the initial ingredients had softened. The simmering continued until all the ingredients were reduced into a country tomato sauce… I usually add blanched green beans to this type of sauce – but there were none to be found in the frig.
After the tomatoes had broken down I added (pre-browned) ‘hot’ Italian sausage and a smaller portion of minced leftover (beef) hamburger. Additional s&p, a spritz of lemon juice, and red wine were added toward the end to coax the sauce to its finish.
After this spirited ‘style libre’ tomato sauce landed on a bed of tagliatelle it was topped with shredded Capricious (an aged semi-hard goat milk cheese from the Achadinha Cheese Company) and garnished with more dried basil.
The wine: Madroña (NV) El Tinto. A blend of 20 varieties – 90+% Zin & Barbera. Fun, showing an old school style Zin character. It was fresh and fruity with moderate spice. Not overpowering and not too chewy. Paired well with the spicy tomato sauce.
The Flavor Democracy 