Directions

1. Thaw your ground meat of choice and set aside.

2. Chop red onion or any type of onion you have on hand, finely dice one clove of garlic.

3. Take a large steel pan and pre-heat on low to medium heat, add cooking oil (don’t use extra virgin olive oil as you do not want to sauté with this) preferably an olive oil, canola oil blend.

4. Once the oil is hot add the onion and garlic, sauté until soft and add in 1 pound of ground meat. Break it up with a spatula and move it around so it cooks evenly.

5. When it’s cooked about halfway through, about 5 minutes in add a 120z can of DOP San Marzano tomatoes (these tomatoes have the best flavor).

6. Break the tomatoes up with the flat end of the spatula. Turn the heat up to medium high.

7. Once the heat is brought up to temp in the pan and you’ve thoroughly stirred in the tomatoes add in your seasoning of choice. This is where you can get really creative. I typically use a pinch of cardamom, cumin, paprika, sea salt, sugar, and a teaspoon of tomato paste.

8. Thoroughly stir in the seasoning and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

9. Depending on your preference you can serve open faced on a piece of toasted sourdough or on a traditional hamburger bun. The left-overs are killer over pasta or wrapped up in a tortilla with ample amounts of cheese. Top with your cheese of choice. Ideally Parmesan Reggiano! But any cheese you have on hand will work.

10. Dishes like this always scream Italian wine for me. The fat in the ground meat cuts through all that tannin in rustic Nebbiolo (the noble grape of Piedmont) or Sangiovese (the noble grape of Tuscany).