My Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

An easy meal that I can always rely on is spaghetti with meat sauce.  It’s simple, hearty and delicious!  

So, in a perfect world, I’ll have a batch of homemade sauce but if not, my jar of choice nowadays is Victoria’s Marinara.  It satisfies my personal taste buds. I also alternate with Paesana, which also works for me.  The Pregos, Ragus and some others just don’t do it for me anymore.  Maybe one day I'll experiment again with something else but for now, if it ain’t broke…     

Everyone has their own method and here's mine:

Ingredients:

• Small onion diced fine
• Handful of garlic (the more the merrier personally) crushed, sliced, pressed -- just however you like!
• 1 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 T. Italian Seasoning
• 1 t. Ground Oregano
• Fresh Pepper
• 1 Cube of Chicken Bouillon (Optional but I like this for some reason and when I use it, I don’t need to add any salt.)
• 40oz jar of Victoria’s Marinara or Paesana
• Small package of ground beef (Less than a pound more or less)

In a dutch oven (that I’m madly in love with) I brown the beef on med-high heat.  I use a wooden spatula that cuts easily through it because I don’t like big lumpy chunks of meat.  Once it’s cooked through and no longer pink, I set aside to drain.

Back to that pot I'll now add two tablespoons of the meat drippings to sauté the onions first.  When they become fragrant and a bit translucent, I'll add the garlic.  After a few minutes, I add the entire jar of sauce and everything else above (except for the meat) and give a good stir.  Once it starts to boil, I'll reduce the flame to low and leave it alone for about half an hour. 

By this time, a large pot of salted water (placed on a burner from the beginning) should be ready for our spaghetti.  Then, I put the meat back in the sauce and stir often as I taste test.  Once it begins boiling again, I'll turn off the flame and cover.  

That’s it!  When it's time to plate, I put a generous amount of meat sauce over my spaghetti and dig in.

As a left over meal on the following day, I like to boil new pasta and then add that to my reheating sauce pot for serving.  I like to combine it all, the second time around.

OTHER HABITS:

Sometimes I want slices of avocado or tomato on the side.  On other occasions, I need a Caesar salad.  If I have any garlic bread handy, I'll dip that in the sauce, yum.  Also, as much as I love fresh Parmesan cheese with everything else, I prefer the powdered version here.

OTHER IDEAS:

For Penne, Ziti or Rigatoni, I do a stove-top version of a baked dish by adding some shredded mozzarella and Ricotta cheese.  How much all depends on how cheesy and creamy you like it.  Everything melts fine enough for me and I don't need to turn on the oven or clean up an extra pan.

Don't you just love spaghetti?  Do you need something on the side with it?  Do you prefer powder or fresh Parmesan cheese? Last but not least, must we bake Ziti?

Tell Self-Rising Flower all about it!