pasta with sausage and fennel

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm REALLY behind on this blog ... I'm going to blame my lack of posting on pregnancy exhaustion. I'm finally coming out of it - hooray! I have 5 recipes to post for my 50-challenge, including a couple I did all the way back in July, bringing me up to 40. So I have 10 more to do in the next 6 weeks to get all the way to 50 within the calendar year.

Anyway, so here's #35 - pasta with sausage and fennel. It's from a book we have called "The Working Stiff Cookbook" by Bob Sloan.

1 tbl. olive oil
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1/2 pound hamburger
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium bulb fennel, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine or beef broth (our substitute for red wine is apple juice - we've never had a problem with it)
1 28-0z. can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper

Heat the oil first, and cook the sausage and hamburger in it. Break up the meat as it cooks so it's in small pieces. When it's done, use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan, then pour out the excess grease from the pan.

Put skillet on medium heat and cook onion, fennel, and garlic until softened.

Add meat to pan with vegetables, pour in wine/broth, and cook for about a minute until the liquid reduces.

Add tomatoes and herbs, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until sauce is the thickness you like.

Serve with cooked pasta - regular thickness spaghetti or linguini are best. It's a pretty hearty sauce, so you don't want to use a delicate pasta.