Well, I hope this is Jan's (my Mom). I found a recipe in her golden book hand written and it was kind of vague. So I went and looked at Paul Prudhomme’s Chicken Mamou with Pasta and used the ‘quantities’ of that recipe to base this recipe. I’ll have to send this to Rick my brother and see how close it is to what he would do. We might adjust it, or just add a different one for his. It turned out pretty good, except my Dad said it wasn't as good, it wasn't Jan’s. Everyone else loved it.
Additional note 4/13/2013 – Okay I cooked it again and this time I changed some things and this time I nailed it. Perfect. Dad loved it and everyone agreed it was awesome. The weird thing was how damn good it was the next day. This is the recipe. No worries.
Ingredients
3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive oil and 1/4th a stick of butter.
2-3 Yellow Onions, Diced
2-3 Tablespoons of Fresh or Jarred Garlic
Salt & Pepper Bouquet Garni (to Taste)
6 lbs of Meat (I used the following, but feel free to substitute and try and come up with different mixes)
- 2 lbs of Jimmy Dean Sausage
- 2 lbs of lean Ground Beef (Hamburger)
- 2 lbs of Hot Italian Sausage – this is the secret ingredient. I think used Johnsonville. This was it. This is the secret. Don’t use Colisimo.
1 SW Premium Crushed Tomatoes (28 oz cans)
1 SW Premium Tomato Sauce (29 oz)
1 Hunts Tomato Paste (12 oz)
Fresh Oregano
6 Tb sugar
3 Packages of fresh 8 oz cut up mushrooms or three cans of canned mushrooms.
In a huge pot over high heat add the butter and oil and heat till hot. Then add the diced onions and garlic and season. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, until onions get a little translucent and are sweet. Remove them to a bowl.
Add the meats, and start browning. Season. When Brown add the onions back in, and then add the huge can of Crushed or diced Tomatoes, and then fill the can with water and add that into the mix. Do the same with the huge can of Tomato Sauce, adding 1 full can of water. It will feel runny at this point, no worries, add the can of tomato paste. Add as much oregano as you want. I put a lot. Fresh leaves I stripped off the stalk and throw in there. Sprinkle the sugar over it. Add the onions back into the pot, add the canned or fresh mushrooms. Bring to a boil.
Then… let it simmer covered for hours. 1-4 hours is fine. This is it. That will produce my Mom’s sauce. The secret is the Hot Italian sausage, the taste permeates everything. You’ll also flat out be amazed the next day, it tastes totally different and 100% better. (and it’s great the first time!)
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