SooN COOKING Shortcuts

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New to SooN Cooking?

No problem! Some quick background on the concept: I love to cook and realized that I often had to adjust my meal plan to accomodate for for my friends and family with dietary requirements when they joined me for a meal.  More often than not, I didn’t know how to modify my recipe to address their dietary needs which launched me into some deep research and left me with a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt that I was preparing the recipe the right way for my guest.  A concept that I now call Meal Planning FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt]. To combat Meal Planning FUD each of my recipes has eight variations which covers everything from vegetarian to Kosher to gluten-free so that you can cut the Meal Planning FUD out of your life and feel comfortable serving the recipe to a variety of guests. Check out the SooN Cooking About page for the complete details.

This recipe can serve 8-10. It’s my classic SERVE or RESERVE scenario. It is a staple in my home and I easily have 3-4 frozen portions in my freezer at any given time. I’ll serve it with literally any store bought pasta.  If I am making fresh pasta, I usually serve it with Linguine or Gnocchi.  I always finish it with and microplaned Parmigiano Reggiano.

Ingredients

• [2] 28oz cans San Marzano peeled tomatoes*
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb sweet or hot Italian sausage [ground only if they have it]
• 1/2-1 head of fresh garlic minced
• 1 medium white onion chopped [~1 cup]
• Italian Herb Mix: either 2 sprigs each fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary or 2 TBS of either dried Italian herb blend * or Italian Herbs stir-in paste
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS Kosher salt
• 1 tsp pepper [~10 turns on the grinder]
• Optional for depth: 1 cup red cooking wine [I use Charles Shaw]
• Optional for spice: red pepper flake
• Optional for garnish: 2 TBS chopped Italian parsley

*for example only — best price will be in your local grocery store

Prep the garlic and onion

Saute the garlic and onion

Add the meat and distribute evenly.

Decision Time! Will you SERVE or RESERVE?

SooN COOKING Original

1. Prep the garlic, onion and Italian herb mix using the Cuisinart or the chef’s knife and cutting board.
2. Using high heat, add the garlic, herbs and olive oil to the pot and sauté 2 minutes or until slightly browned stirring with the wooden spoon.
3. Add the chopped onions and sauté for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the ground beef and cook until you are able to break up the cooked meat into small pieces − about 3 minutes.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes to the cusinart and blend until smooth. Then add the sausage and mix in evenly.  [I find this a necessary step for breaking up the meat.  When I have skipped it, the meat comes out too chunky and not evenly distributed in the sauce.]
6. Turn the heat to medium-low, stir in the remaining ingredients and cover.
7. Cook for 60 minutes.
8. Use a tasting spoon to test the sauce against your preferences.
9. If needed, add more salt/pepper/optional red pepper flake and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
10. Once the sauce is tasting to your personal preference, turn off the heat.

This whole process should have taken about 90 minutes.

SooN COOKING Express

1. Add the tomatoes, beef, sausage, and 1/2 the garlic to the Instant Pot. No need to fuss — just throw them in whole along with the herbs, salt and pepper.
2. Secure your Instant Pot lid. [Don’t forget the rubber seal!]
3. Cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes − it will take about 15 minutes to reach pressure. [If serving with pasta, I typically put the pot of water on to boil right now.]
4. Prep the remaining garlic and onion using the Cuisinart or the chef’s knife and cutting board. [To save even more time you could buy everything prechopped/prepped.]
5. Grab a sauté pan and heat on high. Sauté the garlic and onions in the olive oil until the onions are translucent. Finish by adding the wine* and stir for 2-3 minutes. The onions should have a nice carmelized color. Set aside.
6. When the Instant Pot is finished, you can use either release option. Remove lid.
7. If you used fresh herbs, remove the herb stems. Grab the immersion blender and blend until sauce is smooth.
8. Use a tasting spoon to test the sauce against your preferences.  If needed, add more salt/pepper/optional red pepper flake and cook for 2 minutes using the sauté feature.
9. Once the sauce is tasting to your personal preference, add the onions, mix and serve.

This whole process should take less than an hour.

*Wine: Alcohol and the Instant Pot do not mix as the pressure and cooking process won’t make it possible for the alcohol to burn off.

SooN COOKING VEGETARIAN

Substitute package of Beyond Beef plant based ground and a package of Beyond Sausage hot or sweet Italian. Now follow the steps in either The SooN COOKING ORIGINAL or The SooN COOKING EXPRESS recipes.

Not familiar with a Vegetarian diet? Learn more here.

SooN COOKING KOSHER

The SooN COOKING Vegetarian recipe is a solid substitute if you want to serve this sauce with any parmesan or other dairy products [as it is forbidden to mix meat with dairy in the Kosher diet].

If you want to move forward with meat as the protein — make sure to use Kosher certified products when serving this dish to someone who keeps Kosher. Most sausage is made with pork which is not Kosher.  You could either use chicken sausage or additional ground beef in its place.  Once you make this change, both The SooN COOKING ORIGINAL or The SooN COOKING EXPRESS will be Kosher.

Not familiar with a Kosher diet? Learn more here.

SooN COOKING HALAL

Make sure to use Halal certified products when serving this dish to someone who follows a Halal diet. As a reminder, pork in not Halal and most sausage is made with pork.  You could either use chicken sausage or additional ground beef in its place.  Once you make this change, both The SooN COOKING ORIGINAL or The SooN COOKING EXPRESS will be Halal.

Not familiar with a Halal diet? Learn more here.

SooN COOKING Celiac

Both the SooN COOKING ORIGINAL and the SooN COOKING EXPRESS are celiac.

You would need to pair with gluten-free pasta, gnocchi or creamy parmesan polenta when serving to someone with Celiac.

Not familiar with a Celiac diet? Learn more here.

SooN COOKING for One

Make the following substitions to the ingredients and then follow the directions in SooN COOKING Original or SooN COOKING Express:

• (1) 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes*
• 1/4 lb ground beef
• 1/4 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1/4 medium white onion chopped (~1/4 cup)
• 1 TBS garlic cloves minced (~4-6 cloves cut fresh or use the equivalent in frozen or fresh prepack)
• 1/4 cup red cooking wine (I use Charles Shaw)
• Italian Herb Mix: either 1 sprig each fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary or 1 tsp of either dried Italian herb blend* or Italian Herbs stir-in paste
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt (~5 turns on the grinder)
• 1/2 tsp pepper (~5 turns on the grinder)
• Optional for spice: red pepper flake
• Optional for garnish: 1 tsp chopped Italian parsley

*for example only — best price will be in your local grocery store

SooN COOKING for Kids

Pasta is generally the #1 meal request from my children.  They would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let them. 

Some of their friends have not liked my meat sauce and in this case I served them plain pasta with fruit or fresh mozzerella.