At least once a week we have spaghetti with meat
sauce for dinner. I won’t call my
meat sauce Bolognese, because in Italy, the pairing of the right kind of pasta
with the right sauce is considered almost sacred. Bolognese sauce is served over Tagliatelle. Bolognese sauce always contains carrots
and celery. It is also cooked very, very slowly over many hours.
My version of meat sauce is simple, quick to
make, and delicious.
My recipe for meat sauce is for 1 pound of
spaghetti.
1 pound of spaghetti serves 4 adults.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
½ onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
¾ lbs of ground meat
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon of dried basil, or 2-3 sprigs of
fresh basil
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti
Steps:
1. Heat
oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in onion and garlic.
Add ground beef. Sauté,
stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps of meat. Cook until meat is no longer pink,
about 5 minutes. Add salt and
pepper to taste.
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| I've tried many brands of canned crushed tomatoes grown in California. |
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| I always keep a variety of olive oils on hand. |
2.
Add the can of tomatoes and stir.
Fill the tomato can 3/4 with water, and add to the saucepan. Add a bay leaf and basil. Stir mixing well.
3.
Let the sauce come to a boil, lower temperature, and let simmer for
about 45 minutes, stirring often.
Cooking Pasta:
There are countless varieties of pasta brands
and shapes. When I make meat sauce
I almost always use spaghetti, and our favorite brand is Pasta
De Cecco.
Fill a large pot with about 4 ½ quarts of
water. Bring to a rolling
boil. Once water is boiling add 2
tablespoons of salt. Stir to keep
the pasta from sticking. Stir
within the first 2 minutes of cooking pasta. The pasta is more likely to stick together, in the
beginning, before the starches are released into the water. We like our pasta “al dente” so after
10 minutes I test a strand to see if it’s almost done. I cook the spaghetti for a total of 11
minutes. Drain spaghetti well and
add it to the saucepan with the tomato sauce. Cook the pasta in the sauce, incorporating it all very well,
for at least 1 -2 minutes. This
allows the flavor from the sauce to be absorbed into your pasta.
Serve the spaghetti with meat sauce. Add parmesan cheese to taste. There is always a variety of
hot peppers at my table. Adding
chilies to our pasta is a must! I
remember as a child, attending wedding receptions, my dad always came prepared
for the meal. He carried a few of
his homegrown peperoncini (hot peppers) in his suit pocket, to share.
Tips:
*add salt and pepper to ground meat before adding the can of
crushed tomatoes
*the ground beef that I buy contains about 18 % fat and it
imparts a richer flavor to the tomato sauce
*whatever pasta you choose, follow the suggested cooking time
and adjust according to your taste
Sometimes you need variety, even when it comes to spaghetti.
Buon Appetito!
