Baby Bella Meat Sauce Recipe
Mama Mia It's a Good!

Baby Bella Meat Sauce Recipe with grass-fed beef and San Marzano tomatoes make this Italian pasta recipe foodie delight! Step back non-foodie because this is not for the faint at foodie heart!

Where do I start with this recipe. I had a picky eater coming for dinner. What is it with picky eaters? I have yet to run into a food that I don't like. With the exception of okra that is. If it's fresh food and prepared in a way that make the true flavors come out you can count me in. I mean, COME ON! It's FOOD!

This surprised me because this guest has turned me and Jeff onto some really great off the beaten path, restaurant finds. So I figured, "He's a foodie. He'll eat almost anything".

So I put together my Baby Bella Meat Sauce with bucatini pasta. I love baby bella mushrooms. They are much more dense than portabella mushrooms and the baby bella's saute to a golden brown little bite so beautifully. Not to mention that these bite sized delights are perfect for an Italian meat sauce like this, where the large portabella's are jumbo, mega size. I would picture them next to a rigatoni or large sized pasta shape, or next to a New York strip steak.

So I grabbed a pound of grass fed ground beef and began my creation. Honestly pasta foodie's, it's the only way to eat ground beef. You can actually taste the meat, because grass fed beef is usually local, more lean and fresh. What a difference it will make in your final pasta dish.

Baby Bella Meat Sauce Recipe Ingredients:

  1. 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
  2. 1 lb baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  3. 1 lb of bucatini pasta shape
  4. 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  5. 15oz can of San Marzano tomatoes
  6. grated parmigiano reggiano cheese, as little or as much as you like
  7. olive oil
  8. fresh basil leaves or other fresh herb. oregano, sage are options
  9. salt and pepper to taste

Baby Bella Meat Sauce Recipe Cooking Instructions:

I'm going to assume you all know how to brown mushrooms by now but just in case, hey we all start somewhere, I use butter. Julia Child would be so proud. Add butter to the pan on medium heat and melt but not burn or brown. Don't crowd the pan (a quote from Julia) and brown on each side. You'll have to do them in batches and once you do a batch set the mushrooms aside until you complete the other steps.

Now is a good time to boil bring the water to a boil. Use my how to cook pasta guide for good tips on how to get it al dente, every time.

Baby Bella and Meat Sauce Baby Bella with Meat and Tomaotes

(Just look at this photo shot. You can see the juicy splashing out of the San Marzano tomato!)

In the same pan or separate large pan, drizzle olive oil. Enough to coat the pan. Add the thinly sliced garlic before you heat the pan. This will prevent the garlic from burning. By they way, if you ever do burn the garlic, throw it away. It makes it very bitter and not worth ruining the Italian pasta recipe.

When the garlic is nice and tender, add the ground, grass fed beef to the pan and cook thoroughly. Make sure to mix it up so there are very few large chunks. I wanted the meat for this baby bella meat sauce recipe to have a good consistency.

Now add the San Marzano tomatoes or you can use my marinara sauce recipe made with San Marzano tomatoes. For this recipe I used a can of pure San Marzano tomatoes. I wanted the flavor of that beautiful grass fed beef to come through.

Baby Bella Meat Sauce with bucatini

Allowed that to simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes. In the meantime I finished cooking the pasta and rinsed in cold water to stop the cooking process. Just before adding the bucatini pasta to the baby bella meat sauce recipe I added the chopped basil or fresh herbs such as Italian parsley.

Now toss the pasta into the baby bella meat sauce recipe and mix well.

I serve the parmigiano Reggiano on the table with the grater. Of course a big chunk of crusty ciabatta bread, a glass of nice red wine and perfecto. We are ready to mangia.

Vivere, Amare, Ridere e Mangiare Bene
Live, Love, Laugh and Eat Well!
Kira Volpi

Do you have a pasta recipe to share? Just like this baby bella meat sauce recipe I will post it right here on this site for a whole page dedicated to your Italian pasta recipe.

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MEAT SAUCE RECIPES

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