I’ve always been a firm believer in pork cuts in a tomato sauce. It adds an unbelievable richness and depth of flavor that cannot be attained with simply beef. But, to make a proper “gravy”, it’s an all day process. Browning the sausage, beef, and pork. Sauteing the onions and tomato paste, reducing down the sauce for-ever. Delicious, but time consuming.
My mom always made spaghetti sauce to use up leftover ham. Apparently, her mother opted to use ham in her sauce as well. It’s delicious, easy, and a change of pace from your run-of-the-mill spaghetti sauce using ground beef. Since I’ve got a house full of boys, I opt to add ham as well as ground beef. But, feel free to make the recipe using exclusively ham. Great way to use up those Easter leftovers!
Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked ham, diced
1 lb ground sirloin
1/2 medium onion, diced
4-6 mushrooms, sliced and chopped
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 large jar marinara sauce (3 cups)
1/3 cup white wine
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the diced ham, and saute for several minutes, until starting to brown. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan, brown the ground beef until nice and dark brown. Drain grease and remove ground beef, setting aside with the ham. Add more olive oil to the saucepan, and saute the pepper, onion, and mushrooms until starting to soften. Add the jar of marinara, the white wine, as well as the ham and ground beef; stir to combine.
Reduce heat to low, and simmer for an hour, stirring several times. Serve with a crisp green salad, and crusty garlic bread (recipe to follow tomorrow!).
5 Comments
I wouldn’t have thought to make spaghetti sauce using ham in a million years. I bet it gives the sauce a certain je ne sais quoi, though I would worry that using strictly ham would make the sauce too salty. What do you think?
I guess it would depend on the ham that you used. I’m usually using a “city” ham, spiral-sliced. Which, isn’t too high on the sodium scales. If I were using exclusively ham, I’d probably just cut down on the amount of salt I used to season the sauce in the end.
THere are few things that make me as happy as a big comforting bowl of spaghetti like this! YUM!
*kisses* HH
Your spaghetti sauce with ham and ground beef sounds delicious, like it with mushrooms and peppers…have a great week Laura
I’m making this today. I had made a spiral ham last week, and I have so much leftover. I saw it in the fridge and I remembered you had a recipe for it. Looking forward to it, and I’ll let you know how it goes.