Italian Ragu Sauce

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This is super simple and deadly delicious. No pre-browning of the meat required. It's inspired by Jamie Oliver's trip to Italy. I've been doctoring up jars of pasta sauce since I was 9. It was probably my first adventure in flavours!

In North America we tend to make an interpretation of Italian food that is very heavy and fattening and then we feel obligated to limit how often we indulge. Oddly enough, Italians eat Italian food every night and have one of the lowest rates of heart disease. So I'm always trying to incorporate authentic Italian food into my menus so I can eat them more often and feel great about it. This sauce totally rocked! I hope you like it too.

Authentic Italian Ragu Sauce
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 red onion. chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 28 oz/796ml and 14 oz/398ml can of diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 3/4 lb lean ground beef
• spring of rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat
2. Saute the onions until soft
3. Toss in the garlic and saute for just 30 seconds until fragrant
4. Mix in the rest of the ingredients (yup, even the ground meat)
5. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or so over medium low heat
6. Pull out the rosemary and bay leaf and serve over pasta

*If you don't love rosemary, pull it out after 30 minutes.
This is a great one to get on the stove on the weekend and then freeze for meals during the week. The flavours are so simple but amazing. Gone of the days of adding even more herbs and spices to jars of already over complicated sauces! Simplicity rules!!