Quick Chicken Pasta Sauce

Mince garlic and leek.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the leek and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, and add more butter if necessary (the leeks tend to absorb it). Continue cooking and stirring until the leeks start to brown a bit.

Add the ground chicken and cook completely. Lower the heat to medium-low.

Add the red wine and simmer for a few minutes. Add the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes as well as the spices and stir well. Cover and simmer, stirring once in a while.

While the sauce is simmering, boil water in another pot and cook pasta according to the package directions. When the pasta is ready, the sauce is too! Serve with plenty of Parmesan cheese.

A few notes:

I always use Pastene canned tomatoes for my pasta sauces. They already have Italian spices in them so I don’t need to use as much spices as I would with plain canned tomatoes. Their crushed tomatoes also already have added tomato paste; I often use one of these instead of a can of crushed or diced and a can of paste.

I never measure my spices so I have no idea how much I use and I’m bad at estimating. The quantities listed in the ingredients are more of a ratio of spices (2 times more basil than oregano, etc.) than actual measures. Add all of the spices to taste. I used a lot of cracks of black pepper, but I’m not sure how much that makes!