One of my great joys in life is food! Yes, food!  I am one of those people that loves to curl up with a great cookbook and read it as if it was the greatest of novels. I love to cook a meal and then sit and taste each delicate ingredient. I love to make a meal and share it with friends and family or to make a meal to celebrate anything.

Today, I would like to share a recipe for a fantastic Ragu spaghetti sauce, alongside a wonderful friend who, through the many years we have known each other, has generously and lovingly taught me among other things a few of her wonderful Italian secrets for a yummy quick sauce. With pictures and directions you too will be able to celebrate with those you love a great meal for children and adults alike.

This recipe is as my friend gave it to me. It is a close measurement but not exact as she seldom measures. We had a wonderful day together, laughing as I tried to quickly measure her ingredients while she rolled her eyes as if to say, just watch and add a bit of this and a bit of that. It is all so easy!

For these moments I am grateful.  Thank you Giuditta!

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

William Arthur Ward

Here we go…

RAGU SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Ingredients

• Pork neck bones: 1.27 lbs.
• Beef shank for soup: 1.99 lbs.
• Lamb neck for stew: 1.58 lbs.
• 6 large cans of crushed tomatoes
• One onion with cloves stuck in various places
• 4 or so stocks of celery (leaves welcomed)
• Half of a large green pepper
• More or less 10 baby carrots
• 2 ounces butter
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Fresh nutmeg
  

Directions

• Let meat cook until tender
• Put cans of tomato in a large pan with salt and a bit more of olive oil
• Add all the now cooked meat with vegetables
• Add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg
• Add another 1/8 cup of olive oil
• Cook slowly at a very low heat for the next 2 1/2 hours
• Add Basil leaves toward end of cooking of the sauce
• While cooking sauce, put clean jars without tops into a 250 degree oven and let heat for 20 minutes as shown.  Then, put complete tops into a pan with water at a low boil for 15 minutes
• Once all is heated and sterilized and the sauce is fully cooked, take out the pieces of meat and vegetables and set aside to be enjoyed and eaten at another time with whatever accompaniment desired
• With oven mitt take out the first jar from the oven and carefully fill with the prepared boiling sauce filling it almost to the top, leaving a minimum of space. Then, take the tops from the water and carefully screw on and tighten as much as you can. Repeat this process one jar at a time. (It is important to maintain everything hot as it is this that will finish the sealing process of each jar as they are each tightly closed.)  You will know the process was completed correctly when you hear the popping of each jar as they complete their sealing process
• Once sealed, these may be kept in any available space.  Refrigeration is not necessary which is really great!

Now enjoy and with any luck this recipe will bring you great memories too.