Radiatore with Veal, Pork and Mushroom Ragu

After a good break from cooking, I would expect to be ready with some good ideas, but it was not the case today.  I wandered the store with no great revelation coming to mind.  Having eaten out for several days in a row, we are all ready for a home-cooked meal.  I settled on a meaty pasta, something I figured the girls and Chris would find homey.


Instead of combining the ingredients as I cooked them, I decided to mix it all together first to make a sausage of sorts.
1 lb ground veal
1 lb ground pork
1/2 Sweet onion, very finely chopped (about 1 cup)
3 Garlic cloves, finely minced
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
1 Tbsp sherry
2 tsp honey
3/4 Cup beef broth
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp paprika
1 3/4 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground pepper


Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours.  This made much more than we needed for tonight, so I froze half of it.  You may want to just cut the recipe in half.  I started out with pre-packaged quantities of both the pork and veal, so just decided to mix up the whole bunch.  The remainder of this recipe calls for just 1 lb of the above mixture.


For the rest of the ragu ingredients:
1/2 lb Crimini mushrooms, chopped into approx 1/2" pieces
1/3 cup cream
1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)
salt and pepper (if needed)


In a large skillet, brown the sausage over medium high heat.  Add the mushrooms and sauté until softened.  Then add the cream and milk, then cover and let simmer lightly for 5-10 minutes.
Cook your favorite pasta, ours tonight was a radiatore.  Cook the pasta to al dente and then add to the ragu and cook for just another minute together.  This made enough for our dinner and lunches tomorrow.  Yum.