The Pasta Sauce Post

I remembered that I owed you guys my spaghetti sauce recipe but as I sat down to post it this afternoon I wondered, "Why?" Because frankly there is nothing too exciting about this recipe. It has the advantage of requiring few ingredients, little prep work and it freezes well, but it isn't the sort of thing you hand down through the generations. In fact, I said to myself, I'll bet they have something better.

Ah-HA!

Which is when it occured to me to do a pasta sauce post in which I will give you my Quick n' Easy Spaghetti Sauce recipe and you, if you like, can leave me one in the comments.

An exchange, my little oricchettes, in which every one wins.

I know it is a total pain in the ass to post recipes so if you do not feel like it I totally understand. Oh and before I forget, I was so touched by the recipes you posted during The Great Chicken Crisis while I was in DC (quote from that dinner: "This is the best meal we have had here in two weeks"; from my mother-in-law, no less.) I didn't have a chance to thank you at the time and ever since then it has been all about me me me but I was grateful. So thank you.

Julia's Spaghetti Sauce (lends itself quite well to lasagne, by the way)

1/4 c olive oil

1lb ground beef (85% fat - fat helps with freezing)

1 large onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t dried basil

1 t dried oregano

2 28oz cans diced tomatoes

1 15oz can tomato sauce

1 6oz can tomato paste

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add ground beef and saute until there is just a little pink remaining. Add chopped onion and garlic. Saute until onion softens. Add oregano and basil and stir well.

Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste.

Let simmer on low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It will thicken as it cooks.

 

How easy is that? Very. Very easy.

Beta tomorrow morning, results tomorrow afternoon. Not sure what we will collectively do with those results but I thought you might want to know.

Comments

[Christine]

My recipe's pretty much the same - minus the meat, plus a little sugar if it's too acidic. I add a buttload of rosemary as well, just because I like it.

Happy thoughts for you tomorrow.

[Beth]

My "recipe" involves adding tiny chopped pieces of green and red pepper, minced garlic, and maybe a little pesto to any jarred sauce and letting it simmer for a while. I'm a cheater! But it's tasty.

[vickey]

Here's the easiest pasta sauce ever. Supermarket Rao's Marinara sauce (from the restaurant in Brooklyn that's "connected"). Bears no resemblance to jarred spaghetti sauce whatsoever, and costs the earth. They probably have a meat sauce, too. Just try it.

[AyEnDeeAreEeAyAitch]

I like finely diced carrots in my sauce and some mushrooms and black olives as well as finely diced green peppers. What do you think of this though (and I apologize for using all the comment space)

Andreah's really good Chicken and Dumplings
2 lbs. boneless chicken breast
2 small potatoes peeled and cubed into small pieces
1 c. onion
1 & 1/2 c. chopped carrots
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. frozen peas
1 can chicken stock
3 TB. flour
4 cups water
2/3 c. milk
paprika
bisquick or other baking mix
salt & pepper to taste.

Boil the chicken breast until done. Cool and shred/chop chicken into small pieces. Set aside. Dice and cube the potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. Add chicken, chopped vegetables and frozen peas to crock pot.

In large sauce pan boil the can of chicken stock. Meanwhile, mix 1 c. of water with the 3TB of flour. Whisk flour mixture into hot chicken stock until it starts to thicken. While constantly whisking, add in 3 more cups of water until you have a nice semi-thick gravy going on. If it seems too thick, whisk in more water until it reaches desired consitency. Season gravy that with salt and pepper. Pour gravy over chicken and vegetables and stir in the crock pot.

In seperate bowl make dumplings as directed on baking mix box. If there is not recipe, use this:

2 c. baking mix
2/3 c. milk

Mix together and using teaspoons drop dumplings onto top of chicken, gravy and veggie mixture. Cover with crock pot lid and cook on high for 3-3.5 hours. DO NOT LIFT LID DURING THIS TIME!

Serve and enjoy the yummy fluffy goodness that is chicken and dumplings.

_______________________________________

Andreah's really good Mexican Pasta
1 box large pasta shells
1 lb. ground turkey (or beef of you're into all that fat and killing of the cows you sick bastard!)
1 c. chopped yellow or white onion
1 packet taco seasoning
1 teeny can chopped green chiles.
3 c. of shredded cheddar cheese
1, 16oz. jar of your fav. salsa
1 c. diced green onion (we like onion at our house, okay?)
1 can of fat free refried beans
1, 1/2 c. water
sour cream

Preheat oven to 350º Brown the ground turkey and smoosh it up so it's in small chunks. Meanwhile cook pasta according to drections, drain and set aside to cool. To the turkey mixture, add in the chopped yellow onion, taco seasoning, diced chiles, refried beans and the water. Mix it all up and cook it on medium until beans are mixed in good and onions start top soften. Mix in 1 cup of the cheddar cheese. Set aside.

Grab a 9 X12 or whatever side your pyrex baking dish is and pour in half of the jar of salsa. Spread it around the dish so the bottom is covered. Take the shells and start stuffing them with the meat mixture, laying them in a nice vertical fashion inside the baking dish. After using all pasta and meat, cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes. Take out after 40 minutes and cover shells with rest of salsa and then the rest of cheddar cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Take out and top with green onions and garnish with sour cream.

Ole!

[sinda]

Hey, that's *my* recipe!

When I'm feeling rich in time or short on vegetables (intake, that is) I will add carrots and zucchinis.

Yum.

[Spaghetti]

Spaghetti Fisherman
1 lb vermicelli
1/2 lb butter
6 cloves minced garlic
1 C. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. cleaned shrimp
1 lb. crab meat, chopped
-cook noodles, drain and keep warm.
-melt butter, add garlic and saute shrimp until pink. Add rst and saute until heated through.
-serve over noodles, sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan.

[Annie]

Woo! You're pregnant! (I read the earlier post.)

Whore's Son Sauce (or otherwise known as Bastardized Puttanesca Sauce):

Mince about two or three garlic cloves; sautee in 1/4 olive oil. Add red pepper flakes (about 1/2 teaspoon). Stir in about a 1/2 cup medium chopped kalamata black olives. Add 2 tsp. fish sauce (big ingredient in Thai/Vietnamese food. It's made from pressed anchovies), a couple of tablespoons of minced capers, and 2 tsp. oregano. Stir.

Add fire-roasted Muir Glen canned crushed tomatoes. Let simmer for about 6-8 minutes. Add red wine if desired, while simmering.

I like to serve it over penne.

[Rebekah]

No recipe here, sorry. Just a reminder as to what you'll do with the aforementioned results ... TELL US! Silly thing ... you've already got pg brain. =)

[Soper]

You went with the beer can chicken, right?

O.K., here is what I had for dinner: Goat Cheese and Onion Farfalle with Apple Walnut Glaze. And a salad.

Recipe: Boil farfalle. Saute onions (red), adding balsamic vinegar to taste. Cook until caramalized. Toss in chopped walnuts and apple, add cooked farfalle and goat cheese. Serve.

Mmmm, onions. And if you heat the cheese before adding the walnuts and apple, then pregnant folks can eat it, too! Maybe!

[Sarah]

Waiting breathlessly for results...
Sarah

[Sheridan]

Thank you thank you thank you. See the whole reason I wanted your recipe is that I DON'T HAVE ONE.

So I can't swap. Sorry. But I need to start making some meals to freeze as bub will be here in 9 weeks time, and if ever there was an organised woman around the house - well you're it.

Thanks again. Can't wait to see your beta result. I have a funny feeling it will be a whopper.....

[Laura K.]

Yummmmm....when I don't have massive heartburn I will have to try it. :)

As for what we'll do with your beta results, it'll be the same thing we all do collectively - wait to hear them and then obsess over them with you! :)

[Melissa]

My sauce is very similar. Here's a good one pot meal:

1 pound of chicken breast cut in chunks

1 can of diced tomatoes (with chopped chiles or jalapeno)

1 can of BBQ baked beans

as much onion and garlic as you like

olive oil

Heat olive oil. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add chicken. Cook chicken for about 5-10 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans. Lower heat and let simmer anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Serve over any rice you like or with corn bread. To make a nice presentation, put finished stew in a baking dish, cover with corn bread batter and bake until the corn bread is golden. Then I call it mexican pot pie. You can also substitute ground beef or turkey instead of chicken. Yummy! Congrats on your ever darkening lines and good luck tomorrow!!
Melissa

[maricar]

Woohoo!! Fabulous recipes and a beta test tomorrow! Delish!

[shannon]

I like to call it Pasta a la Poverty, because I ate it and felt very rich indeed while a starving (no, really, starving--thank god for waitressing friends) grad student.

1 whole shallot
4ish cloves of garlic
a few sundried tomatoes (two or three)
a medium skillet coated with olive oil and then a bit more
a few (two-three) tablespoons of butter
the remains of last week's bottle of white wine (about half a cup)
half a box of angel hair

Finely chop the shallot and garlic and carmelize it.
In the meantime, finely chop the tomatoes. Add them to the hot oil.
Stir it all around a bit.
Melt in the butter.
Pour in the wine.
Toss sauce with the angel hair.

Feed your waitress friend and impress her!
(It only makes enough for two, but you get the idea and could make as much as you like.)

[shannon]

P.S. Now that I'm rich, I toss toasted pine nuts on top.
Yum!

[shannon]

P.S. Now that I'm rich, I toss toasted pine nuts on top.
Yum!

[Toni]

Excited to hear the news...a bit behind in blog world - damn morning sickness.

I can't think about food right now. But when I can, I'll post my favorite pasta recipe. It's WONDERFUL...if you're not sick...

[Joy]

Don't know nuttin about cooking, but I'll be waiting with baited breath for those hcg results (just as I will on Friday)! Good saucy luck...

[Moxie]

I don't find slow-cooked red sauce worth my time because I'm just not crazy about it. My husband loves Paul Newman's Sockarooni sauce, so that's what we get.

When it's late summer and the tomatoes are perfect (or anytime and I feel like shelling out the $$$ for perfectly ripe hydroponic cherry tomatoes), I heat some extra-virgin olive oil in a pan and add chopped garlic and chopped fresh tomatoes. A nice sprinkling of sea salt. Saute until the tomatoes release their juices, then toss with the pasta, some fresh basil, and some freshly-grated parmesan.

That's tomato sauce to me.

[tracy]

My pasta sauce... brown a pound of ground beef with chopped onions and garlic. Add salt to taste. Add a jar of Prego spaghetti sauce and simmer. When you put the pasta in the boiling water, add some dried basil to the sauce.

[Lisa S (& Riley, Bella, & Adelyn)]

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!

Julia, it's not that I don't love you, but your sauce recipe is all wrong!! Well, OK, it's SAUCE, not guinea-wop gravy like what was made in my home growing up. Though your sauce might be tasty, it has several inherent problems:

1)You use a can of tomato sauce to make it (you're MAKING sauce - if you had sauce, why make it??)
2)You spice your sauce with oregano
3)There is no wine in it! You must both add wine and drink wine while cooking
4)It's not cooked long enough

Now again, I adore you, I really do, but I implore you to try making real Italian gravy just once. Here's my recipe:
_______________________________________

LISA'S SUNDAY CLASSIC DINNER AL ITALIANO

1/4 c olive oil

5-6 garlic cloves, minced

1 small can tomato paste

3 28 oz cans tomato product (I usually use 2 crushed and one diced, but it's a matter of preference)

Rinse out tomato cans into one can, thereby getting all of the pulp out of the bottoms of the cans - you will add about one can of this pulpy water

1 small can Rotel tomato (this is a spicy diced tomato and it adds some kick to the gravy - skip it if you don't like spice)

a pinch of sugar

1/4 to 1/2 cup of red (think Italian table) wine - I never measure so I am totally guessing, just pour some in

2 bay leaves

1 T dried basil

salt & pepper to taste

country style pork ribs on the bone

hot & sweet Italian sausage
______________________________

Wake up in the morning, pee, and then GO CHOP GARLIC. You'll want to start the gravy by 8:30 am at the latest or it won't be ready.

Heat the oil in a big pot and brown the meat in the pot that you will be making the gravy in. Put browned meat aside on paper towels.

Heat garlic in the oil (do not burn or toast garlic - if you do, start over).

Add tomato paste and saute for a minute. Then add all cans of tomato products, seasonings, wine, water, and sugar. Finally, add the meat (if you are using meatballs, don't cook them all day, add them about an hour before eating).

Simmer the gravy until dinner time, at least eight hours. The pork will be so tender that it will fall off the bone (it is absolutely amazing cooked this way), and the sausage will help flavor the gravy.

Bake some garlic (cut off top of head of garlic, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in tin foil and bake at least an hour in a 400 degree oven), get some nice Italian bread and a good salad and you are set.

Mangia!

[Erin]

I'm a bum, I don't have a recipe to share... but I wanted to say thanks for posting yours!! One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn to cook, and so far I've been doing great. I even learned that I LIKE cooking! Why was I avoiding it all those years? Anyway, I just recently made homemade meatballs, but was too chicken to try making my own sauce. Your recipe sounds great (and it's easy! I'm kind of a dumbass when it comes to cooking). So thanks for posting it! Now I'm going to go back and check out the other recipes left in the comments.

[cursingmama]

I have never in my life made a decent red sauce, it may be my german/swedish heritage, it may be my mothers lack of red sauce making...I'll be trying yours.
My sauce consists of a trip to the market for newmans sockarooni, and if I feel adventurous I'll add some extra fresh mushrooms. I love Italian food, watch all the Italian food cooking shows - just can't produce the food, sigh. Now if you were in the mood for hotdish or potato soup, that I could get ya.
Best of wishes with the beta.

[Michele]

You've made me hungry for this...so I went out and bought the ingredients. My recipe is nearly the same too. I add green pepper, and a little bit of balsamic vinegar, and some fresh basil at the end.

[Scully]

So, I was going to post *my* spaghetti sauce recipe, that has been handed down for generations in my family, but it's exactly the same as your recipe.

Cool.

[Deanna]

Oh, you actually measure the ingredients? LOL.
I just shake a crapload of dried basil into my mortar, top it off with a generous dollop of dried oregano, sage, marjoram, and thyme, and pestle the crap out of it before putting into the sauce. Also, a very generous pouring of any cheap red wine into the sauce is a definite must (but not too cheap; as it must be polished off with dinner).
I like to crockpot my sauce after bringing it to a boil in the sauce pan.

[Kimm]

I like Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for simple tomato sauce (you can find it on the Food Network site), adding whatever chopped vegetables I happen to have on hand. She uses dollops of butter to cut the acidity instead of sugar. Who knew?

[rick]

does anyone have recipes with ingrdiants of paul newmans spaghetti sauces please thanks