My favorite Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Everyone loves spaghetti even children, it's just one of those totally comforting and delicious things to eat. Most of us ate it growing up and everyone has their own version of how they like to make it. This is something my mom made quite often as a child, and it was definitly one of her winning dishes - and for an embarassing amount of time I just could NOT pronounce the word "spaghetti" as my siblings will still tell anyone who will listen. This is my version, and hopefully one day my son will have fond memories of eating it. It doesn't look that pretty in the picture here, but trust me it was so good. 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chuck 

1 yellow onion (diced)

1 celery stalk (diced)

1 carrot (diced)

Handful of button mushrooms (chopped)

5 garlic cloves (finely minced)

2 cups of red wine

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 beef bullion

A few sprigs of fresh basil (chiffonade) and fresh oregano

1 can of crushed tomatoes

Red chili flakes as needed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

1 lb of spaghetti

To make:

Get a large pot of water going for pasta, once on a rolling boil add salt. In a large heavy saute pan add a generous amount of olive oil (don't be shy), and onions, celery, carrots (this combination is called "mirepoix"), after it's cooked down a bit add in your ground beef, once it's pretty much browned throw in mushrooms, garlic, oregano, chili flakes, bullion. Make sure you are salting food as you go, so it cooks in with your food. Pour in red wine and reduce till there is barely any liquid left (this is called "au sec"). Next add can of crushed tomatoes, add teaspoon of sugar. Simmer sauce for about 20 mins, stirring every so often. Add basil to meat sauce when done. Cook pasta to al dente, (I like to use tongs to stir pasta around while it's cooking) drain pasta - throw back into pot and drizzle in some olive oil, mixing well so pasta doesn't stick. Add most of meat sauce to pasta leaving a little to put on top of pasta when you plate it.  And viola, it's done. I like to add a lot of chili and garlic to mine, love it spicy.