any good cooks here?

[felisdomesticus]

In an inspired moment this morning, I decided to make an Italian meat sauce of sorts in my CrockPot.

I threw in:
package of 85% lean ground beef (probably 2 pounds)
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
garlic
oregano
red pepper flakes
basil
parsley

I just peeked in and it is very--juicy. Lots of liquid. How can I improve it? Any ideas on what to add?

I was thinking of chopping up an onion but its 4pm now and I think it'd probably need quite awhile to cook/soften.

[Irish]

chop the onion, brown it in a pan w/a bit of olive oil, add a pinch of brown sugar, and lower the heat and cook 'til soft. Add the onion, along with the brown sugar and oil (there shouldn't be much oil or brown sugar), to your crockpot and finish the cooking process.

If you like cilantro, you might want to chop up some of that and add it to your stuff....

The only other thing I can add is that you may want to think about leaner beef. We get 7% lean at Winco, and 5% lean ground sirloin at New Seasons. The leaner it is, the better it sits with our digestive systems around here :-).

BTW--sounds yummy. Is it for birds, humans, or both? I'm gettin' kinda hungry over here....

[MandysBlackRoses]

Your sauce will prob thicken when it cools off alittle, sause always it thiner when hot. When it's re-heated it shold be a bit thicker. You could add a little bit of flour water mixture to it. I use that to thicken my beef stew in the croc pot. Or another can of tom paste. Or both!

And if its REALLY juicy, you could add your pasta right to it and cook it all together. Is it juice/greese from the hamburg? You could use a ladle to skim it off the top. Let us know how it came out!

[felisdomesticus]

Originally Posted by MandysBlackRoses

And if its REALLY juicy, you could add your pasta right to it and cook it all together.

I was considering that. But I am a horrible cook and this day's disastrous dinner proves it. I was afraid that if I added the pasta, it would become completely un-fixable.

[The Outlaw]

Another option is to cook some onions (I do think it could use some) in the microwave and add them once they are softened. Its the easiest way to incorporate forgotten things into crockpot meals. I also add a touch of cinammon and a bit of sugar. It will add a delightful undertone to the sauce and the sugar helps neutralize the acid from the tomatoes. Oh, how about a shot or two of Worchestershire sauce too.

[felisdomesticus]

it's amazing how my mind works. It's like there's only one way to get from Point A to Point B in my brain and I just don't even see other possibilities. I wrote off the onion completely because I had forgotten it. Thanks for suggesting that I cook it first, then throw it in. Never occured to me. My boyfriend has a field day with these types of moments in my life.

how much is "a touch" of cinnamon/sugar? You need to be more specific for the cooking (and common sense) impaired.

[The Outlaw]

I would add about 1/8 tsp. cinammon and about a heaping TB of sugar. I'm not sure how big your crockpot is or how full it is. That would be for a larger crockpot, filled.

[felisdomesticus]

thanks! I'm going to add that right now.

[kathleen]

Originally Posted by felisdomesticus

it's amazing how my mind works. It's like there's only one way to get from Point A to Point B in my brain and I just don't even see other possibilities. I wrote off the onion completely because I had forgotten it. Thanks for suggesting that I cook it first, then throw it in. Never occured to me. My boyfriend has a field day with these types of moments in my life.

how much is "a touch" of cinnamon/sugar? You need to be more specific for the cooking (and common sense) impaired.

Don't ever give up. You become a good cook by trial and error. Trust me, that's how I learned. I'm not gourmet but it's edible. If the sauce looks too watery it may be because you still have the lid on. The water droplets build up on the lid and drop back into the dish, it's supposed to do that. At the end of slow cooking a roast, the last 1/2 hour or so, I turn it up to high and let it simmer. The steam is allowed to evaporate and the dish becomes more concentrated.

[MandysBlackRoses]

Yeah, I have taken the lid off the croc twords the end of cooking baked beans . It works to thicken it. I forgot about that. I love baked beans in the croc pot. Ohh and sweet and sour meat balls. Mmmm.