The don's manicotti sauce (lite version)

Yield: 6 Servings

Measure Ingredient
¾ pounds Ground Turkey
¼ pounds Italian Sweet Sausage
½ pounds Italian Turkey Sausage; (Sweet)
4 \N Cloves Garlic (Or More To Taste); Crushed
1 large Onion; Chopped
2 cans (16 Oz) Tomato Puree
1 can (6 Oz) Tomato Paste
2 teaspoons Oregano; To Taste
3 teaspoons Basil; To Taste
1 teaspoon Sugar
\N \N Salt And Pepper; To Taste

In a covered Dutch oven, over med. heat, in ¼ cup water, cook the sausage links for about 5 min. Then uncover and brown. Drain fat and blot with paper towels if you want to get as much excess fat off as possible. Do the same with the ground turkey, although the fat should be considerably less.

Set aside.

In large (5 qt) Dutch oven or stockpot (nonstick, if possible), heat a few tsp of olive oil and saute onion and garlic a few min. until soft. Add all remaining ingredients, except meat, together in the Dutch oven (or stockpot). Add 1 cup water. Simmer covered about 1 hour. Cut sausage into bite size pieces and add to pot along with turkey. Gently simmer at least another 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Do not let thicken too much. Slight additions of water at this stage will not hurt.

Suggested Wine: Full bodied red Serving Ideas : Any cheese filled pasta NOTES : The quantities of meat & sausages are very adjustable! The original recipe called for 1lb. Italian sweet sausage and 1 lb. ground beef (which is VERY HEAVY I think). For a spicier version, hot italian sausage may be used. The seasonings are also very adjustable to taste, of course! The original recipe only called for 1 clove of garlic (for garlic lovers-ridiculous!)

Recipe by: Don Michel

Posted to recipelu-digest by Terry Pogue <tpogue@...> on Feb 24, 1998

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