Pasta with Meat Sauce a la Helen McCorkendale

Today Cathi Stoler, the author of KEEPING SECRETS, shares her protagonist, Helen McCorkendale's favorite recipe, Meat Sauce a la Helen.

Helen McCorkendale, New York PI, loves all things Italian—fashion, food and especially men—as we see in her growing relationship with Mike Imperiole in KEEPING SECRETS, the second novel in the Laurel and Helen New York Mystery series.

Helen also loves to eat and is thankful for her revved up metabolism, which allows her to

mangia bene on whatever strikes her fancy, including pasta. Here’s her recipe for pasta

with meat sauce that she recently cooked up for Mike.

Meat Sauce a la Helen

1 lb. lean ground beef crumbled

3 links hot sausage  out of casing and crumbled (sweet is okay, too)

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ medium onion chopped

1 tablespoon of crushed garlic

2 teaspoons of dried parsley

1½ teaspoons of basil

1½ teaspoons oregano

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

3 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

salt & pepper to taste

In a medium frying pan crumble and sauté ground beef and sausage until browned. Drain and remove from pan.

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil and add garlic and onion.

Cook, stirring until onion is soft. 

Add the parsley, basil and oregano and cook for a minute or two. 

Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Stir well.

Add the sautéed meat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and cook on a low heat for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Serve over your favorite pasta and add Parmigiano cheese.

Cathi's new book, KEEPING SECRETS, just came out on November 1st. You can read all about it here.