Tonight’s broiled steaks were intially planned to be served with polenta, but I found the mix (that had lived in the pantry for (apparently) far too long) had gone questionable. I still wanted to try a mushroom ragout, so I stuck with that part of the plan and just served it over some Wacky Mac tri-color rotini.

The recipe is pretty much my own, pieced together from a number of sources.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil

Sauté the onion and garlic in a hearty splash of olive oil until onion gets clear. Add to this:

• 1 package baby bella mushrooms, quartered

Keep sautéing until the mushrooms look cooked through. Add to this:

• 6 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped

I used 4 yellow tomatoes and 2 orange tomatoes because that’s what I happened to have available. Roma tomatoes would work great too, I’m sure.

• 8 oz of beef stock; I swear by Kitchen Basics brand stocks in cartons. They’re much less salty and more flavorful than Swanson or canned broths.

• 1/2 cup red wine; Today I used a bottle of Beringer Founder’s Estate Old Vines Zinfandel, 2005 that someone generously brought us at a dinner party and we weren’t able to use at the time. This might be my new red cooking wine; it was great to drink AND for flavoring the sauce.

• Salt, pepper and Italian herbs to taste.

Simmer this for about half an hour, until the liquid is cooked down. Serve over pasta (as I did), polenta (as I planned) with some yummy steaks. This sauce is so hearty, it would be fine on its own, too.