I got an urge last week — I wanted to create a meat sauce for pasta. So I read a bunch of recipes to get ideas, and then (per usual) did my own thing. Patrick said I outdid myself with this one!

Note: I made the sauce with ground venison, but am writing it with ground beef as most people don’t have access to ground venison.

Hearty Meat Sauce for Pasta

• 6 slices bacon, cut in half
• 2 lbs ground beef (at least 85% lean>
• 1 large onion, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2x 10 oz cans condensed tomato soup
• 2x cans water
• salt & ground black pepper
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• dash cayenne

In a large heavy pot fry the bacon until barely crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate and let cool.

Sauté the beef, onion, and garlic in the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Brown the beef well as it adds flavor.

Chop the bacon and add to the beef mixture. Stir in the tomato soup and water; stir to blend. Season with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and cayenne. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve over pasta of your choice. This is a very thick, meaty sauce, so pasta such as rotini or nuggets work best.

Variations

The next time I make this I’m going to finely chop a bell pepper and add when sautéing the beef.

I’m also thinking of going with a Mediterranean flair and adding cinnamon, allspice, and/or cumin. This sauce can go in a number of directions.