To me, Spaghetti with a great meat sauce is the ultimate comfort food. Maybe that’s because my Mom made great spaghetti and whenever I walk into a house that’s had a pot of sauce simmering, I’m transported back to being a kid again. Her version had carrots and red wine in it and she called it “bolognese”. She never had a recipe so when I got married I basically started winging my own version. But alas… I was both a horrible and adventurous cook (bad combo!). I had seen my mom throwing spices into a pot with reckless abandon and I thought if you just kept adding new flavors it would come together eventually. I even tried throwing curry into it once. <cringe>. That’s when I knew my husband really loved me… when he took a bite… and swallowed. And did not say a word. That’s also the night I decided to start using recipes. But somehow, nothing was quite 100% right. I gave up on perfecting a lot of things… but spaghetti was something I loved… so I kept experimenting. I’ve landed on this particular arrangement… and people ask for my recipe often. So… either they’re being polite… or it’s good. Either way, here’s the recipe. Pictured on “herbed noodles” instead of wheat pasta.
Sarah's Spaghetti Sauce
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Ingredients
- 1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 Pound Lean Ground Beef
- 1/2 Mild Italian Sausage (If you don't have both meats use a pound of one or the other)
- 2 Cans Tomato Sauce (Approx 14oz size / Unflavored or italian seasoned)
- 1 Can Diced Tomatos (Approx 14oz size / Unflavored or italian seasoned)
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1/2 Finely Chopped Onion
- 4 Cloves Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste (optional but best if you have it)
- 1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons Dried Basil
- 1 Teaspoon Oregano
- 1 Teaspoon Salt (you may need more or less depending on saltiness of meat)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
- Juice of One Lemon
- 1 Cup grated Parmesan cheese (or a few chunks of parmesan rind) plus more cheese for garnishing
Instructions
- Saute the chopped onion and garlic in hot oil in a pot
- Add the basil, oregano, cinnamon and tomato paste and cook for a minute. This gets rid of the canned tasted in the paste and toasts the spices to bring the flavors out
- Add the meat, reducing heat to medium or lower
- Brown the meat slowly… if you do it too fast it makes the meat tough and makes the sauce too chunky
- Once all the meat is browned add the canned sauce, canned diced tomatoes, lemon juice and water to the pot and stir to combine
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer at least 20 minutes on low heat
- Stir 1 cup parmesan cheese into the sauce and cook for at least another 10 minutes (the longer you cook this, the better the flavor will be)
- Use an un-slotted spoon to remove some (but not all) the grease from the sausage. The grease will look kind of orange sludge on the surface of the sauce. If you only used beef, you won’t have enough fat to remove… and you do need SOME fat for flavor.
- Taste your sauce. If it tastes too acidic, add a teaspoon of sugar or a knob of butter. Another trick is adding 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. If it’s kind of “flat”, it might need a bit more salt,another squeeze of lemon or a bit more tomato paste. If it’s too chunky, add some wine or water but go slowly… you don’t want to water it down too much. Spaghetti sauce needs lots of love and some time to mature in it’s taste… so don’t taste it before you’ve given it time to simmer and reduce because you’ll prematurely adjust the flavor and accidentally ruin it. And for the love of everyone who partakes in your sauce… never add curry! 😉
1 comment
I am so excited to have your recipes in print, Jason is going to be so happy!!!