Slow-Simmered Meat Sauce

Wonderful sauce. It takes a little doing before you get it into the crockpot, but it's worth the effort. I tweaked things a bit so that I wouldn't have to split a package of sausage (I used all sausage instead of a beef/sausage combo). And I'm not usually totally keen on olives, but I added them because I knew they'd add a nice depth of flavor (which they totally did). I served the sauce over egg noodles with some lightly-dressed greens on the side. I'm thinking I'll add a little garlic bread and red wine and serve this when we're having guests over during the holidays.

Slow-Simmering Meat Sauce
A variation on this recipe from Cooking Light



1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 small carrots, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds hot and/or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
6 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
16 ounces uncooked pasta
Shaved or grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and carrot to pan; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Place vegetable mixture in a 6-quart slow cooker.

Add sausage to skillet; sauté 6 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from skillet using a slotted spoon. Place sausage on a double layer of paper towels; drain. Add sausage to slow cooker. Stir olives and remaining ingredients (through dried basil) into slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours.

Prepare pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Serve sauce with hot cooked pasta; top with cheese.