Awesome Spaghetti Sauce
Here is a simple and fast recipe that any thick-headed, semi-sober, fat-fingered lout can prepare. Not only is it easy to prepare, but it doesn’t involve simmering for hours on end, though it will taste better the next day.
If you prepare it in the quantities suggested in the recipe you’ll be guaranteed enough to put in the freezer for later. Spaghetti sauce freezes and keeps well. Cook it once now and there will be sufficient for several meals.
Last, but not least: For your pasta choose a good durum wheat brand I personally like Skinner and Barilla. I do not like the Rosa brand.
Steps for Success
- 1 lb of spaghetti pasta
- 1 lb of ground beef (between 7% and 15% fat)
- 1 medium or large onion
- 2 cloves garlic (you can use garlic salt, but then don’t use the salt in the recipe.
- 1 24oz can of tomato sauce
- 1 12oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup oregano
- 4 tblsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt & 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tblsp sugar or 1/4 cup of finely chopped or shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup of red wine
Prepare the Onion
What meal doesn’t start with an onion? Take your onion and dice it up. There is a way to dice an onion that makes it look professional, not that you need to do it here, but if you are interested check out you tube or one of the “how to” streaming channels you can find on your Blu-Ray player. Set aside your diced onion until the beef is prepared.
Brown the Beef
Take a good sized saucepan (it’s a one dish meal) and put in a generous 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Turn on the burner for a medium heat and let the oil get hot.
Take your ground beef and add to the hot oil. Use a wooden spoon to break it up. You are not trying to fry the beef, just brown it. The end result should be a fairly finely separated ground meat. Optionally, you can chop up some Italian sausage or ground pork. Be sure to remove any skin on the sausage before adding it to the beef.
While browning the beef open up your cans of tomato, and crush and peel your garlic. You can use minced garlic or sliced garlic (finely sliced) I don’t really taste a difference.
Onions
When your beef is completely broken up in the saucepan and browned, add your diced onion. The idea here is to cook the onion with the beef until it starts to become translucent. You may need to turn the heat down to a low heat at this point. Don’t fry the onions (your onions will turn brown and bitter if you fry them). This process takes 5 minutes.
Combine Ingredients
To your beef and onions, add both cans of tomato, garlic, salt and pepper. Turn up the heat until the mixture begins simmering. at this point you can add your oregano. This is a personal step as far as flavor goes. You can’t go wrong with a quarter cup. If you don’t have a measuring cup, just use a small handful. I love oregano and tend to put more in the recipe. It lends pungency and a pepper taste. The peppery taste will actually subside when the sauce is left for a day or more. When freshly made, the sauce has more pungency.
Now you can go ahead and add the sugar. Why sugar? Sugar counteracts the acidity of the tomatoes and gives a smoothness to the sauce. As an alternative, you can also use a grated carrot (or finely sliced) for the same effect. Since this is a simple sauce, why bother - go ahead and throw in the sugar. Another option is the wine. If you have a nice red wine handy, you can easily add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Be sure to keep the heat up after you add the wine to boil off the alcohol.
Patience
Reduce the heat and let the whole lot simmer for at least 20 minutes. After that you can eat it; but as I noted earlier, the longer you simmer and store the sauce, the better it gets. If you eat it the same day you made it, the sauce will tend to be more watery. After leaving it for a day in the saucepan or after freezing and defrosting, you will notice that it is a lot thicker. I love it either way and you will to. Try to be patient and let the sauce simmer on low heat. You don’t need to cover it because you want a little reduction in the amount of liquid - just not too much.