Carmine's Bolognese Sauce

Jess and I just got back from a trip to New York where we had some of the most amazing food of our lives. My favourite was Carmine's restaurant. Carmine's specialises in "Family Serving" Italian food. Since it was just the two of us we ended up getting a meat and a pasta. This was about 30 pounds of food. The Spaghetti Bolognese was the best I have ever eaten. I immediately started looking for a copy cat recipe and found this one as the starting point of my own. I really didn't change much from "Anna's" version other than the way that I prepared some of the ingredients and some of the cooking times. This will be my "go to" sauce recipe. It tasted exactly like Carmine's. This made sauce for a ravenous family of five with some leftover... don't forget your fat pants!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 White onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks grated and chopped celery
• 1 grated and chopped carrot
• 1 pound ground beef
• 4 hot "Spolumbos" sausage, casing removed
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 Tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

Chop everything! For the celery and carrots I used a box grater on the finest side then chopped it again with a knife. If I had a food processor I would have used that. Once everything is chopped, grab a medium/ large pot and heat the oil on medium/high. Throw in the garlic and onion after a minute or so. When the onion is starting to soften add the carrots and celery. After 5min add the sausage and beef. Brown the meat then add the herbs, salt and pepper. Dump in the wine and bump up the heat a little. Once the wine has cooked off add the tomatoes and beef stock. Lower the heat and simmer the sauce uncovered until it is a desirable consistency. I simmered mine for about 1.5hrs. Just prior to serving stir in the butter and cheese.