Garden Vegetable Ragu

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and butter in a very large, deep skillet or a Dutch oven on medium heat.

Once hot and working in batches, sauté the onions, zucchini and yellow squash until soft and slightly golden. Remove to a bowl after each batch. When done, add all the vegetables back into the skillet, including the carrot and the garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes. Add in the cup of red wine. Season the sauce with the sugar, dried herbs, a little salt, and a lot of black pepper. Stir, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 35-40 minutes. Lastly add the half cup of Parmesan (reserve the rest to garnish), taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Serve over pasta or prepared spaghetti squash.

Optional Ingredients:
1/2 to 3/4 pound of Italian Sausage; for a spicy and meaty ragu. If preparing this with the Italian sausage… Brown up the ground sausage, remove it from the pan, then sauté the onions, squash etc in the sausage renderings, adding olive oil if needed.

8 ounces of fresh mushrooms, which you will slice and saute with vegetables.

Parmesan Cheese Rind; just throw the cheese rind in while sauce simmers and remove it before serving.