A Bite of My Childhood
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Food on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 11:00 AM
I can understand the appeal of jarred pasta sauce. It’s quick and convenient and a lot of brands don’t taste too bad.
But my longstanding and firmly-held opinion is that if you’ve got the time to make it, homemade sauce is always better. It’s fairly simple and convenient, too: half an hour of prep in the morning, and all you have to do at dinnertime is cook the pasta and prepare a salad and/or bread, and you’ve got a meal! The bonus is that your house is filled with the delicious smell of the sauce simmering all day long.
My parents have a recipe for the American classic spaghetti with meat sauce that is pretty decent. Guests who eat it always seem to like it.
In my own kitchen I’ve taken my parents’ recipe and played with it over the years, and this past Saturday I had a breakthrough. When my sauce had been simmering for a little while, I tasted it and thought, “This is it! This is my absolute favorite spaghetti sauce that I have ever tasted.”
In other words, too good not to share.
Arwen’s Family’s Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
makes enough to serve eight-ish
1 lb ground beef
1 lb pork sausage
2-3 medium onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
12oz can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
28oz can diced tomatoes
28oz can crushed tomatoes
28oz can tomato sauce
salt to taste
1. In a 4-quart (or larger) pot over medium heat, cook meat with onions, breaking it up with a spoon, until the meat is browned through and the onions are soft and translucent. Drain fat.
2. Stir in garlic; cook one minute. Add tomato paste and stir until meat is coated; cook several minutes or until paste starts to darken slightly. Stir in oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper; cook one minute or until fragrant.
3. Add bay leaves, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Stir until thoroughly combined. Bring to a slow simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer at least one hour.
4. Before serving, salt to taste.
5. Serve over hot spaghetti. Enjoy!
Bonus recipe! This sauce makes great lasagna - it’s gotten rave reviews. The above recipe is enough sauce for one pan of lasagna the way I like it. You don’t have to use the whole batch of sauce in your lasagna if you like it drier.
Arwen’s Family’s Lasagna
makes twelve one-piece servings
one batch spaghetti sauce, above
15 lasagna noodles
1lb ricotta cheese
12oz mozzarella cheese, grated or thinly sliced
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1. Soak lasagna noodles in very hot water for 5 minutes. Skip this step if you are using oven-ready noodles.
2. In a 9x13-inch baking dish, spoon enough sauce to cover the bottom of the dish. Layer five noodles (you’ll have to break one to fit it along the end) on top of the sauce.
3. Spread the ricotta over the noodles, then spoon more sauce over it. Add another layer of noodles. Repeat with the mozzarella.
5. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the last layer of noodles, then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350º for 1 hour. Serve hot and enjoy!
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