Our family holiday meal tradition is a little different. Since my sister and I both chose to be vegetarians throughout much of our youth, Mom made a mean cheese lasagna for Christmas dinner. Now, I can’t eat traditional pasta but I do eat a little more meat. So this year, for Christmas Eve dinner, we’re having grass-fed meat sauce over gluten-free pasta. For Christmas Day, I’m hoping to perfect zucchini “lasagna” to complete our Italian holiday meal tradition. What is your Christmas dinner tradition?

The noodles we used are ancient grain elbows I received from TruRoots in exchange for my honest opinion. And, I absolutely loved them! These are by far my fave gluten-free noodles so far. And the sauce, of course, I adapted from my favorite recipe creator, Alton Brown. I hope you love it as much as we do! The kids thought the sauce was a little too rich and meaty so we’d add more tomatoes for them next time. But Mr. Meaty and I both loved it!

Meat Sauce over Gluten-Free Pasta

Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

6 ounces thick sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 whole cloves
1 whole star anise pod
7 cloves garlic, 5 minced and 2 sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 ounces coarsely ground beef chuck (we get ours in Atlanta at Carlton Farms)
1 1/4 cups white wine, divided
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups beef broth (I use this recipe, but with beef soup bones instead)
4 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

ancient grain elbows

Method

For the meat sauce:
Place an 8-quart Dutch oven (I used my cast iron combo cooker, it was a little tight, but it worked) over low heat and add the bacon. Cook slowly until the bacon is crispy and has rendered its fat, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan for another use. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Place the clove and star anise into a small spice bag, add to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions caramelize, 45 to 60 minutes. Add the 5 cloves of minced garlic to the pan and continue to cook over low heat approximately 30 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the pot. We used an old silk tea bag for our spice bag. Or you can get one of these sets of spice bags.

Meanwhile, place a wide 4-quart saute pan, over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and once it shimmers, add the beef chuck and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to a colander to drain. Return the pan to high heat, add 1/2 cup of the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer these bits and any remaining wine to the Dutch oven along with the meat.

Add another 1/2 cup of the wine, evaporated milk, beef broth, and mushrooms to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours.

Once the sauce has been cooking for 1 1/2 hours, place the 4-quart saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once it shimmers, add the 2 cloves of sliced garlic and cook for 30 to 45 seconds or until fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and marjoram and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 30 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine, tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high; add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the tomato mixture to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing the pasta.

For the pasta:

Bring the water and salt to a boil over high heat. Carefully add the pasta, stirring quickly to separate. Cover and return to a boil, being careful that the water does not boil over. Once boiling again, uncover and continue to cook until slightly less than al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Transfer pasta and sauce to a serving bowl or individual bowls, top with parmesan and serve.

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