The Butcher's Pasta Sauce ~ From the Slow Cooker

There is no doubt that I love those quick pasta sauces that can be put together at a moments notice, especially in the warmer months when fresh produce is abundant.
However, when the temperatures drop I usually long for the deep flavors of a slow cooked sauce, the kind of sauce that can simmer on the stovetop for a couple of hours while the flavor develops. The kind mom and grandma used to make.
That's fine if you have a leisurely day to check on the sauce while it's cooking and give it a stir every so often,  adding more liquid if necessary.  
Sometimes we don't have that luxury of time --  that's what makes this recipe stand out; long simmered flavor without having to babysit it.



Slow Cookers ~ you may love them or not,  there is no doubt they are a convenience.  
In years past I could count on one hand the recipes I really loved  made in the slow cooker.   Too many times the food cooked in these units  tasted and looked like bad cafeteria food ~ left on the steam table for far too long  mushy, gray and not much in the way of flavor.

My slow cooker aversion took a turn around with the  introduction of the more modern slow cooker cookbooks, like this one from Michele Scicolone. 

Click image to learn more

"The Italian Slow Cooker"
Michele is a genius when it comes to what type of recipes really benefit from slow cooking. Instead of just dumping ingredients into the cooking vessel, sometimes a little prep takes place stovetop to get the recipes started. This one extra step makes all the difference in the world when it comes to a superior finished dish. So worth it!

I've had the book for a while ~I've shared  another favorite from book  a while back; "Spicy Tuscan-Style Sausage Ragu". Very, very good.)
The book covers everything from soups, sauces, risotto, polenta, grains, seafood, eggs, poultry, meats, veggies and beans, plus desserts. She offers special techniques that assure perfect results even with the most delicate ingredients like eggs, fish, and tender desserts.
The one I'm sharing today is The Butcher's Sauce, a recipe from Puglia. The unique thing about this recipe, and the reason for it's name ~ as Michele explains is that it is made of any kind of meat you happen to have, either fresh or in your freezer. (A good way to use up raw scraps of this and that such as a bit of raw ground beef, a pork chop, a sausage or a chicken breast.) Just chop the meat up in your food processor and proceed with the recipe. I have the basic recipe over on my recipe blog.

photo: Doris Italian Market
  Usually served with orecchiette, cavatelli or any chunky pasta.  I used perciatelli (pronounced: "pear-chuh-TELL-lee" as it is known in Naples.)  Almost everywhere else, the cut is refered to as bucatini. About twice as thick as spaghetti and hollow as you can see from the photo.

This one is a keeper, friends! And like most tomato based cooked sauces, it freezes very successfully ~ you can double batch easily if you have a very large slow cooker.





If you would like a printable copy of the recipe, you can find it over on my recipe blog HERE.
Please come see what's cooking for Foodie Friday!
Have a wonderful weekend!
~Mari xo