Greek Tomato Sauce

I was making lamb shanks as part of a Greek dinner and wanted to add some flavor so I decided to make them with a Greek Tomato sauce.  I love slow cooking meats.  It makes the meat so tender.  You also use tougher cuts of meat and they have more flavor because of their fat content.  Shanks may be my favorite cut of meat.  Cooking a shank correctly is not as easy as it sounds.  Lamb is a very strong scented meat.  So infusing flavor that both compliments and is also strong enough to stand up to the lamb is not so easy.  This recipe that I found worked well.  Traditionally, people think of a Greek Tomato Sauce for pasta, like pasticcio,  or use this sauce on meatballs.

 

 

Ingredients (adapted from Food.Com):

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 garlic clove, chopped fine
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
15 oz can of stewed tomatoes
3 oz of tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 cup dry red wine
8 ounces tomato sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground allspice
salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat a large non-stick frying pan and add the olive oil.  Sauté the onion until tender about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute until fragrant.  Add the crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer for 10 minutes or so.  The sauce should thicken a little.  Now, add the parsley and oregano.

Simmer, uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook an additional 20 minutes.

 

 

Serve and enjoy!