Fabulous Ragu...and STILL, I had to make grilled cheese....

I have been drawn to recipes from my Food and Wine as well as Bon Appetit...I love food and everyone that knows me knows that I love wine! Especially when I can pair a nice wine with a great dish.And I love the presentations in Bon Appetit!  This recipe was actually the cover receipe of Bon Appetit and I have just kept looking thinking that LOOKS really great! And being labeled "The New Spaghetti and Meatballs" I thought my kids would love it too!

Doesn't this look GREAT!?!?!

Maybe my 2 young kids are too young to REALLY appreciate good food, unless you have 2 pieces of bread and melted cheese slapped in between!!! As far as my teenager goes....I need to accept the fact that she is maybe an alien and one day will like what I put in front of her. I think the appearance of food being fancy scares her. So....for my next dish I am goin to pick something SO kid friendly it will knock their socks off. But for now....let's talk ragu.........
I deviatied from this recipe at 2 parts....1) I did not use whole grain spaghetti...I am not a fan! 2) I split the italian sausage and used 1 pound HOT and 1 pound SAGE flavored. When you use HOT sausage the peppery taste can be very overpowering and I had VERY high hopes my kids would eat this dish, so I wanted to bring that zing down a bit! Other than that, I followed the receipe to a T!

The Ingredients

This was not a expensive dish to cook at all! My husband and I ate from it for 2 days and I had it for lunch a few times also (NOTE: my husband and I ate from it....)  I think my final bill to cook with was $23.00. tghat is excluding the wine, as I have some cooking wine set aside here at home. I always cook with wine that does not cost too much...so that probably bumped the cost up to about $30...but WELL worth it!

I prepared this early in the afternoon and it braised all afternoon...the house smelled so good. My husband was looking forward to digging in...he is a pasta guy. Kaitlin and Riley opted for grilled cheese....again. I've decided their sole purpose is to make me crazy. And then we have Morgan. She sat down and proceeded to tell her father that she is really not into all of the fancy dinners. Great. More for us.I mean this is Ragu! It was SO easy to make and it cooked itself! Go make a grilled cheese for yourself Morgan!  She tried the dish and said it was not one of her favorites. But then again....what is?!  Robbert and I sat and enjoyed a GREAT meal together! He said this is a keeper for sure! What do the kids know anyway!?!?

My ragu....after braising for more than 3 hours!!!

Beef Shank and Sausage Ragu with Spaghetti!! YUM

From Bon Appetit May 2009 edition...WELL worth it!!!!!