Not much to say tonight, I’m hunkered down with an under-the-weather Dane at the moment. He had his annual shots today and they’re not agreeing with him. We were in the middle of a play date this afternoon and he just quit and has been asleep ever since. “Far from the Madding Crowd” is on the menu for tonight has bored me completely, so I had to turn it off. I’m also keeping an eye on the Cubs game tonight, since the Red Sox and Rockies’ seasons are over. I do love an underdog. Meanwhile, as I search for something else to entertain, here is tonight’s recipe exchange:
I did not step in my kitchen this week, except to put together a salad or reheat some (homemade) soup. Allergies, pets, friends and work ate away all my time and energy. So for tonight I went into the archives and combined a couple of exchanges to come up with tonight’s recipes.
Let’s start out with JeffreyW’s Awesome Sauce (recipe here) because, well, it’s awesome.
Want something a little simpler and quicker? How about his San Marzano Sauce, click here.
And his Shrimp & Pasta Formaggio (here) is a quick and easy alternative to red sauce.
When everything is in season, I like to make my sauce with fresh ingredients, so I have a Garden Fresh Pasta Sauce (recipe here) that’s lighter and fresher than tonight’s featured recipe.
If you like meatballs with your favorite sauce, my favorite recipe (pictured above) is here and also at that link are several other styles of meatballs from JeffreyW, so you should find something you like.
When it comes to pastas, I favor two options, a nice spiral (fusilli or rotini) or a quick cooking Angel Hair (capellini), but if I can get it fresh from the farmer’s market, I’ll take what I can get, which is usually a linguine. It’s all tasty.
Now sauces can be risky and start a great debate, because every family has their version. So hit the comments with your favorite pasta sauce recipe, and for that matter, pastas, because there are so many choices. Like many things, I’m not all that concerned about the right pasta for the right sauce, I say, use what you enjoy and ignore the purists.
Food should be fun. For that matter, so should wine, beer and scotch. What’s on your plate this weekend?
For the featured recipe, I went with my traditional family sauce, the one I grew up with, but with a few tweaks. Now, even in my family, half of which are Italian, even the most basic sauce has as many different variations as there are cooks, so this is just a place to start, add your own touches to make it your family tradition. This is a hearty sauce and my go-to in the colder months when fresh ingredients are not readily available. I always double this and freeze half for a later dinner.
Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce
- 9 – 12 oz pasta of choice (I like angel hair for this recipe)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 tsp. crushed garlic
- 1 lb lean ground beef (or 1/2 beef and 1/2 spicy Italian sausage)
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 3 tomatoes, diced (or 14 oz can diced tomatoes)
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 3 tsp dried basil, crushed*
- 2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
- 1 tsp rosemary, crushed
- 1 carrot, finely grated or 1/2 tsp sugar (these reduce the acidity of the sauce and bring out the spices – trust me on this one – I prefer the carrot, myself.)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes (opt) to taste
- grated Parmesan cheese
2 saucepans and large skillet
In skillet, heat oil, sauté pepper, onion, garlic. Add hamburger and cook thoroughly. Add tomato paste and 1 tsp ea of crushed basil, oregano and rosemary, mix well. In saucepan, add remaining ingredients and bring to a low boil, reduce heat, add meat mixture and let simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
Cook pasta according to directions, drain well and serve with sauce and Parmesan cheese.
*CRUSHING Spices – when using dry spices, to get the best flavor, you should crush them, either by rubbing them in your hand or using a mortar and pestle before adding them to a recipe.
For the full menu that I created for this recipe, click here for menu, recipes and shopping list.
![_DSC5118 [1024x768]](https://whats4dinnersolutions.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/dsc5118-1024x768.jpg)
That’s it for this week. I’m thinking apples next week. Have a great weekend – TaMara
SinnedBackwards
No complaint about the recipes, but to be completely pedantic, angel hair is not spaghetti. The various thicknesses of thin straight pasta DO really go better with the variances of stickiness and clumpiness in the sauce. So I think should so be honestly identified.
(So at least says a not-quite-4-year resident of Bologna.)
Also too, a pox on green peppers. They are too likely to take over.
SiubhanDuinne
I had a Cajun pasta thing tonight, with a vague idea of paying tribute to Paul Prudhomme, but it wasn’t actually very good and I suspect I may be regretting it around 3:00 a.m. :-(
Pogonip
Has anyone tried the low-carb Dreamfields pasta? If so, what do you think?
Jackie
There’s a giant farm near us and every Labor Day weekend, they sell Roma Tomatoes for .25/pound u-pick or .50 if they pick. We let them pick and spend the weekend processing 100+ pounds
One of my favorite things is to take the really ripe tomatoes, put them in a large roasting pan along with. Chunks of onion, green peppers, a few chili peppers and garlic. Pour on a little olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar and some red wine. Roast in the oven until everything is soft and carmelized and beautiful. Process to your desired consistency in a food processor. Can as usual. That’s a base for almost anything you want and a bit of summer all through the year.
schrodinger's cat
I usually make a huge batch tomato sauce once a month, which I use on pasta and as base for soups and butter chicken.
Litlebritdifrnt
My favorite pasta sauce recipe is green onions chopped, firm white mushrooms sliced, fried until the onions are silver in a little olive oil. Add Italian seasoning and a little chopped garlic. Fry a little more. Add several dollops of sour cream and stir. Finish with a generous helping of heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Toss cooked spinach fettuccini noodles into the sauce and then serve. It is known around our house as “the green pasta”.
schrodinger's cat
@Litlebritdifrnt: That sounds delicious. I would probably top it with shrimp, when I try it.
C.S.
You need a duck. And a bottle of wine. And two big tins of San Marzano tomatoes. You skin the duck. Then you put it in a pot with the wine and a bay leaf and whatever else you want and then you cook it low and slow for, like, four or five hours AT LEAST.
Then you take the duck outta tha pot and you turn that heat up to make the pot boil. You reduce that wine/duck lusciousness for at least a half hour while the duck itself is cooling. Is it reduced? Good. Now it’s time to add a chopped onion and at least two carrots. Turn down the heat and simmer. Do you want to add a stick of cinnamon? I won’t judge. You gotta do you. Do you wanna throw in some other spices? Maybe add some beets? Some celery? That’s between you and your god.
When the duck is cool you shred that mutha. All the meat, you gotta shred it. Keep the bones to make stock (just like, I hope, you kept the skin to render for luscious duck fat) but put the meat back in the sauce. Add two big tins of San Marzano tomatoes, which you have skillfully and carefully crushed by hand. Simmer. Have a nice drink. It’s gonna take a bit.
When it looks good, it’s ready. Probably about an hour after the tomatoes go in.
ruemara
@Pogonip: I usually go with shirataki noodles or tofu shirataki. But for those, you need a tasty sauce. I did make a low carb pasta with zoodles (zucchini spiral cut into noodles), lemon, garlic, pepper and a nice sprinkle of parm & asiago. Very good stuff.
C.S.
@C.S.:
Jeebuz Christmas, I forgot to mention garlic, the holiest of God’s creations! Add that at some point. Probably with the carrots.
Keith P.
I’m pretty proud of my pasta sauce. I started with The Godfather recipe that Clemenza gave (minus the sugar; I don’t even use carrots), then cross it with the one from Goodfellas (lots of meat, onions garlic). And oh, yeah, the tomatoes *do* matter. I used Cento forever before getting turned on to Sclafani, which is light years better (they taste like someone picked the tomatoes and put them into a can)
I make the meatballs fresh (grinding multiple cuts and types of meat, using fresh herbs and bread, good eggs), and the thing takes all day to make, but I fill up my Dutch oven and have individual vacuum bag servings for weeks.
Console
Slate has a puttanesca recipe that I really liked.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/23/puttanesca_sauce_etymology_and_recipe_prostitutes_have_nothing_to_do_with.html
Quick and simple but has some hardcore flavor. Bitter, salty, spicy, rich. My only modification is to chill on the lemon zest. Use like 1/3 of the suggested amount.
SiubhanDuinne
@C.S.:
Please please please write a cookbook.
22over7
@Keith P.: A bit of sugar (I don’t use carrots either) really does help cut the acidity of the tomatoes. Otherwise, your recipe sounds like something I’d devour.
Schlemazel
I love this non-tomato sauce, it is pesto-like and a nice change of pace
2/3 C toasted pine nuts
1/2 C chopped black olives
1/2 C roasted red peppers – if you use canned in oil adjust the amount of olive oil to make up for it
1/4 C chopped parsley
1/2 C fresh basil, chiffonade
2 garlic cloves minced (I like more myself)
4 Tbs olive oil
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 C fresh grated Parmesan cheese for serving
heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and toss in the garlic, saute it just until you smell the garlic, you don’t want it to brown. Add the pine nuts black olives and red peppers and continue to saute until they are warm through. Toss in the parsley and basil stir to mix then pour over the pasta and mix with the Parmesan.
Joel
The key for me has always been to use home-canned tomatoes, since I prefer a “fast cooked” sauce with tons of brightness and acidity to the slower-cooked gravy preferred in Italian-american cuisine.
Keith P.
@22over7: That’s what the onions are for.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Instead of carrot or sugar, try a very small amount of cinnamon. It’s the best.
Litlebritdifrnt
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I think I am going to have nightmares for a week just thinking about contaminating pasta sauce with the dreaded cinnamon.
p.a.
My family (both sides Mezzo-talians) seldom did ground meat in the slow cooked sauce. 7 bone chuck roast (really a large slab of steak), sweet and hot pork sausage, some chicken (just because; even if only wings), meatballs (roasted or fried before, raw-to-sauce was not invented yet :)) and a chunk of pepperoni. The usual suspects re: onions & garlic. NEVER PEPPERS, NEVER OREGANO: TOO DOMINANT per la famiglia. Never carrots. Whatever tomatoes were convenient/on sale; fresh, canned crushed, canned diced. Basil. Red wine (A Brown: tomato has alcohol soluble flavor compounds). Sugar if needed; tomato acidity varies.
I absolutely recommend the 7 bone chuck. Season. Brown. Remove & deglaze with onions & garlic. Add tomatoes and nestle (and restle- it’s pretty big) the chuck back in. Then do your own thing. Try the pepperoni, or really any dried sausage. It’ll be a revalation. The drying removes H2O, the rehydration adds flavorful liquid.
rikyrah
food looks good
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I love sauce all’amatriciana — I make it with fire-roasted canned tomatoes (sorry, I just don’t have the time or energy to fire-roast them myself). This is pretty similar to my recipe:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bucatini-all-amatriciana-2
SWMBO
@Schlemazel: Did you post your recipe for cheesecake and I missed it?
I stole a recipe off a cooking show years ago for a nice sauce.
6-8 plum tomatoes peeled and diced
2-3 Tablespoons fresh basil
1-2 Tablespoons oregano
salt pepper to taste
1/2 to 1 cup fresh grated parmesan
linguini
simmer the tomatoes and spices in a saucepan for about 25-30 minutes. Add parmesan cheese a little at a time
Cook linguini until about 3 minutes are left. Drain linguini and add to tomato sauce. Cook until al dente and finish adding the cheese. The linguini absorbs the flavor. Serve immediately with more cheese on top. Should serve 4-6. At our house it serves 2.
mikeinIreland
My moms from Naples so I know what I’m talking about here first off! :)
My sauce recipe is as follows. Use this as a base for just about any other sauce.
First off, only use fresh tomatoes. If they are firm wait till they start to soften. They’ll have a richer taste. Roma and marzano’s are good cause they have more meat rather than pulp but you can use any to be honest.
So, you’ll need a tomato puree contraption like . You only have to buy it once and you’ve got it for life.
In a saucepan begin to simmer a medium sized onion in olive oil (1/8 inch or so in the bottom of a medium sized pot) and some salt. After they start to change color to yellow add in 3-4 thinly sliced cloves of garlic. This will give your onions that nice sweet taste that some store bought sauces substitute with sugar.
Boil 10 or so tomatoes for 7-8 minutes until the skin starts to split. Pour out the water and cool with cold water. Just pinch the skin off and place the tomatoes in the puree machine and start spinning until all has passed through and only the seeds and minimal pulp remain.
You gotta take the seeds out to remove the bitterness!
Pour your puree into the pot now. Add 4-5 basil leaves. And a little black pepper. Wait on the salt for a bit, you can always add some later. Slowly cook that down until it thickens to your desired texture while tasting between to see if you added enough salt.
If you get distracted with wine and it dries out too much just add a little water.
Sangiovese or Multipulciano di Abruzzo is nice with this.
Buon Appetito!
Emily68
Here’s my pasta sauce. It’s the quickest sauce you’ll ever find.
Saute:
2-3 cloves of garlic in 2-3 Tbls olive oil
Add:
15 oz can of tomato sauce
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Let it simmer for about 5 minutes
Serve over pasta, brown rice, stale sourdough bread, whatever
To fancy it up, you can add mushrooms and/or marinated artichoke hearts and add 1/2 Cup white wine for the vinegar. Cook it uncovered for 20-30 minutes to reduce it.
rumpole
OK, I’ll bite:
These all depend on the quality of the tomatoes.
The utility infielder
28 OZ can of san marzano (cento preferred, b/c in puree)–pulsed in a blender or crushed very well by hand (no pieces bigger than a half inch long and 1/4 in wide).
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano, dried
2 cloves garlic, grated in microplane
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 stems basil (fresh)
1. heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and oregano and stir until just before garlic begins to brown. (this is about 30 seconds to a minute.).
2. Add tomato, salt, sugar, basil and onion.
3. Bring to a simmer and cook on low minimum 30 min, uncovered until you reach desired consistency.
4. Remove onion halves and basil and serve.
Uses: very good on pizza, as a basic tomato sauce for spaghetti, spaghetti and meatballs, or for chicken parm.
Why it works: butter, and the fact that the flavor is “sweated” out of the onions without taking over the sauce. It’s very subtle. Some people think sugar in a sauce is an abomination (I don’t), but it works very well here.
Sauce 2: Amatriciana like a boss.
4oz pancetta, diced, or guanciale (pig’s jowl) if you can get it.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped very fine in a blender or food processor (if you puree it by accident that’s OK)
1 whole clove garlic
1 28 oz can san marzano (crushed by hand).
salt and pepper to taste
1. heat olive oil, and add pancetta and garlic clove. When the pancetta has rended its fat, is brown and has begun to crisp, add the onions. Cook the onions until they have begun to brown. (since they are chopped fine, what should happen is that (a) they first essentially deglaze the pan when their liquid is released; and (b) then they begin to brown and stick a little. That’s OK. (this whole process should take about ten minutes or so).)
2. By now, the garlic clove should be brown. you can remove it or leave it in. Add tomato, cover and simmer on low for 45 min to one hour.
3. While this is cooking, boil the pasta in salted water. You want to time the pasta so that it’s done just before you’re ready to serve. When the pasta is nearly al dente but not completely cooked, reserve a cup or two of the starchy water and drain the pasta.
4. Put the pasta in the pan and stir in the sauce. What happens is that the starch in the pasta releases and “creams” the sauce. When the pasta is cooked, plate and serve. Add a little bit of the reserved pasta water at a time to ensure that you don’t reduce the sauce too much. (you will likely not need close to all of it.).
Recommended pasta: bucatini or spaghetti.
Why it works: This sauce was always mediocre until a friend of mine turned me onto the idea of near-pureeing the onions and basically browning them. The final step with the pasta water improves it, but of these steps the onion one is the most important.