Grass fed spaghetti

I was in the mood for spaghetti the other night. I was too tired to drive out of my way to the Italian grocery store, so I stopped at a grocery on my way home. I picked out some marinated olives and then went to the meat counter. I was going to get Italian sausage, but my eye rested on the package of grass fed ground beef. I remember hearing something about the health benefits of grass fed beef, so I decided to give it a try. 

Boy, you can really taste the difference grass fed beef makes in this sauce. Well, I couldn’t, but maybe you can. I know it must taste a lot better, because at $6.99 a pound for grass fed ground beef, it just has to be so much better. This is how I made the sauce.

Olive oil

1 lb. grass fed ground beef

Red pepper flakes

2 medium onions, chopped fine

1/4 lb. sliced mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 cup semi-sweet white wine

1 cup dry red wine

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

2 cups of chicken stock

1 can of Ro•Tel tomatoes

Fresh ground white pepper

1 lb. spaghetti, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large dutch oven and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Break up the ground beef (remember, grass fed only) into the pan. Sprinkle on some red pepper flakes and stir. Let that brown, stirring often.

When the beef is about half way browned, add the chopped onion, and stir. Now add the sliced mushrooms and stir again. Let that cook, stirring often, until the beef is browned and sizzling. Add the garlic, basil and oregano, stir and let that cook a couple of minutes.

 Add the half cup of white wine and stir until it evaporates. Now add the red wine, stir and let that cook down until most of the liquid has evaporated. When the liquid is almost gone, add the tomato paste. Stir it in vigorously until it is well mixed with the meat.

Add the chicken stock, a little at a time, and stir so the paste has evenly dissolved into the stock. Now stir in the can of Ro•Tel tomatoes. Grind on a whole bunch of white pepper and stir and let that simmer, very gently, while you bring the pasta water to boil. Turn the heat off on the sauce while you cook and drain the pasta.

Serving

This is a real tasty meat sauce and I’m sure you’ll be able to taste the difference that grass fed beef made. I don’t know why I couldn’t. 

Anyways, place a huge pile of spaghetti on a plate and smother it in the meat sauce. Grate some more white pepper over it and then hit it with a blizzard of fresh grated parmesan or asiago cheese. Now set out the homemade bread, the marinated olives, a good sharp Italian cheese, and open a bottle of Italian red wine. I had my favorite house wine, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo.