Penne with Beef and Roasted Pepper Sauce

I had some ground beef, red wine and roasted peppers at hand. What should I do? The obvious answer was to make a delicious pasta sauce. I wanted a quick recipe that doesn't require many hours of simmering yet still deliver robust flavor. So, inspired by my Bolognese recipe, I used the red wine to add flavor to the Beef. I boiled it and let it evaporate so that the beef retains that subtle wine taste that truly adds depth of flavor but without too much alcohol. I then stirred in  the roasted sweet peppers and fresh chopped/diced tomatoes plus some dried herbs and, wow, the result is a very delicious sauce that tastes like it was slow-cooked for hours but actually is not. Enjoy this easy and yummy pasta sauce over your favorite pasta!

Ingredients

3 strips of Bacon or Pancetta, chopped
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 lb ground Beef
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1 medium Onion, chopped
3/4 cup Red Wine

3 Roma/Plum Tomatoes, diced or chopped with a food processor
3 large roasted Italian Sweet Red Peppers, sliced into thin strips* 
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons, dried Thyme or Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper (to taste)
A sprinkling of Brown Sugar (optional - to enhance flavor)
1 lb Penne Pasta (or your favorite noodles)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to pass around

*To learn how to roast sweet peppers, please click here.

Procedure

Place the bacon and a little olive oil in a deep pan on medium heat. Cook until the bacon renders its fat. Once the bacon has browned a bit and has released some of its fat, crumble the ground beef in. Cook the ground beef until it changes its color.

Add the garlic and onions and saute until onions start to soften, roughly 3-4 minutes.

Pour in the red wine. Let the wine boil until it has evaporated.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, roasted peppers and the Thyme or Italian seasoning. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low for 20-30 minutes. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. You may sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar to enhance the flavor (optional).

Cook the pasta according to package directions while the sauce is simmering.

Serve the sauce with the pasta of your choice. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top, if desired.

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