Spaghetti Bolognese

My dad is a big hunter, and was lucky enough to bring home a fairly big deer on his last hunt. When he had the buck broken down, he packaged ground meat into one pound individual packages, perfect for me to grab one out of the freezer on my last visit, thaw out and turn into Sunday night dinner for my boyfriend and myself. I always feel that Sundays are made for comfort dishes like spaghetti, especially when your boyfriend's sister sends home fresh pasta from Spain! So I put a spin on the traditional meat sauce, using the ground Venison meat, added some heat with chipotle pepper, and topped it off with some applewood smoked bacon.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. ground meat (I used Venison, but feel free to use beef, turkey, sausage, or chicken)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 28-oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (or heavy cream)
• freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 box spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped bacon for topping (Optional; I had leftover from breakfast)

In a large soup pot, bring salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti noodles according to boxed directions.

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add in the ground meat, breaking up with a wooden spoon, as the meat cooks and turns from pink to brown (about 5-7 minutes). 

Stir in the garlic, chipotle, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for one more minute. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan, scrapping up any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. 

Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, stirrong occasioanlly for 20 minutes.

Add the greek yogurt and simmer for another 10 minutes, until sauce has thickened.

Serve atop the spaghetti and top with freshly grated cheese and crumbled bacon.