Lamb & Chianti Over Spaghetti

Saturday night I made a delicious tomato sauce. I've been on big wine kick recently - luckily my husband likes wine because I don't. What I do like is wine shopping. And Trader Joes, with their bargain-basement low wine prices allows me to purchase the way I like - by the label on the bottle. But I was growing bored of allowing everyone else to enjoy th fruits of my labor, so I decided I wanted to start cooking with the wine.

The hubby is a big fan of chianti - the old fashioned dry red of mafia dons and cannibals. It sounded perfect for the dish. I picked out this 2008 Grifone Chianti Reserva and after 15 min of breathing Andy decided he liked it much better than his first impression.

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 small onions
5 garlic cloves
1 pound of ground lamb
salt & pepper
2 tomatos
1 cup of chianti
1 14oz can of tomato sauce
1 7oz can of tomato paste
Italian seasoning

In a big pot I sauteed the minced onion until clear and just beginning to brown, then threw in the garlic for a few minutes more. I added the lamb and a bunch of salt & pepper, and browned the meat. Then went in the diced tomatoes until they were getting soft, which is when I added the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and the chianti. I tossed in a bunch of "Italian Seasoning," which I'm pretty sure just had oregano, rosemary and basil. I let it simmer for 40 minutes and then I served it over perfectly al dente spaghetti.

It was decadent and delicious and not in the least bit boring.