Jerry Lewis' Italian Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb Hamburger
1/2 c Sliced fresh mushrooms
3 Slices chopped bacon
1 ts Salt (or to taste)
1 ts Pepper (or to taste)
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1/4 c Wine (or to taste)
1 tb Olive oil
1 ds Cinnamon (or to taste)
1 ds Ground cloves (or to taste)
1 Chopped onion
1 Chopped green pepper
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 2.5# can Ital tomatoes+juic
1 Bay leaf
1/2 ts Basil
Several cloves sliced garlic

Saute bacon and some onion in oil. Then add beef, sausage, green pepper and the rest of the onion. Cook until meat is browned. Then add mushrooms, tomatoes (with juice), bay leaf and seasonings. Simmer for 1 hour. Add tomato paste and wine and simmer for another 30 minutes. If your sauce winds up being a little runny, add some more tomato paste or let simmer uncovered till desired consistency is achieved. I rarely make this recipe the same way twice. It's a very forgiving recipe and experimentation is reccommended. Try adding a dash of Worchestershire sauce and/or a dash of bitters. Add some oregano, whatever you like. This recipe also doubles very easily. The amount of garlic was purposely vague as I'm one of those people who feel that you can never have enough garlic. If you're not a garlic-aholic, you probably will only need one clove of garlic. This was given to me by my father Jerry Elliott. ~-
Hunter Elliott