Spaghetti Sauce

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Makes 30 Servings at 3/4 cup each.

• 2 lb. Ground Beef (cheap)
• 2 lb. Ground Turkey
• 1 lb. Italian Sausage.
• 2 Tbsp. Granulated Garlic (Garlic Powder)
• 4 oz. Mary's Meat Mix
• 4 cups chopped Celery
• 2 cups chopped Onion
• 1/2 cup chopped Green Bell Pepper
• 1 Tbsp. Chopped Garlic.
• 3 Tbsp. Oregano
• 2 Tbsp. Parsley Flakes
• 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
• 6 Tbsp. Flour.
• 52 oz. (1/2 # 10 can) Whole Tomatoes. (Thoroughly cut up tomatoes.)
• 30 oz. Tomato Sauce
• 30 oz. Tomato Puree
• 18 oz. Tomato Paste
• 1/2 gallon Water
• 2 Tbsp. Salt
• 1 Tbsp. Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Soda
• 8 Bay Leaves. (Leave whole, but crack stem in several places.)

1. Put Beef, Turkey, Italian Sausage, Granulated Garlic and Mary's Meat Mix into large pot (15-20 qt.) on high heat. Chop meat fine, stir, & cook till meat is brown and firm. (NOT CRISP!) Reduce heat to medium. Remove excess fat, leaving about cup fat in pot.
2. Add Celery, Onion, Bell Pepper, Garlic, Oregano, Parsley Flakes and Chili Powder. Cook until Vegetables are tender.
3. Stir in Flour.
4. Add Whole Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Puree, Tomato Paste, water, Salt, Black Pepper, Sugar, Baking Soda and Bay Leaves. Let simmer at least 2 hours.

Fully Simmered makes about 1 1/2 gallons(24 cups)

My grandfather came up with this -- it tastes a lot less tomato-ey than most spaghetti sauces.

1 pound ground beef
1 medium chopped onion 1 can Campbell's condensed tomato soup
1 small can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Spaghetti/vermicelli/whatever cooked pasta to put the finished sauce on.

Brown the beef; when it's all browned, drain off the grease. Add in the chopped onion and put it back on the stove. Add the tomato soup and sauce to the pot; stir all of this together well. Add all of the spices and lower the heat to low; let simmer for 10 minutes.

this recipe for home made spaghetti sauce comes from the ungarretti and cappechi family lines that came over on the Big Boat to start a new life in the Land of Opportunity around 1880-1900.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion (large white or yellow onion works great)

5-10 cloves of garlic

30 oz can of tomato sauce

15 oz can of chopped tomatoes or whole stewed tomatoes

6-8 oz can of tomato paste

a few palms of italian seasoning

a tablespoon or so of basil (a couple whole basil leaves works better)

a bottle of extra virgin olive oil to be used at random intervals and with much gusto

salt and pepper

any extra veggies you wish to experiment with (celery, black olives, green/red/yellow pepper, parsley, chives, spinach, etc.)

step 1: prep

make sure you have everything to make the stuff. (VERY IMPORTANT!)

dice and chop up the onions and garlic cloves. make sure you peel them first.

prepare any other vegetables you plan on sticking in your experiment.

make sure you still have everything to make the spaghetti. (cats will always steal something. discipline them accordingly)

step 2: cook the stuff

start off by browning the beef (make sure the beef breaks up). drop a few glugs of olive oil in the pan

add the onions and garlic halfway through browning the beef. salt and pepper to taste. maybe more olive oil

once the beef looks done, transfer it to a big pot and add all the tomato stuff. (yup, more olive oil)

if you have any other veggies you wish to add, do so now. (and olive oil)

stir that for a little bit, then add the italian seasoning, more pepper and chopped basil (unless you are using basil leaves)

add some more olive oil (you can never have too much!) and stir it a little more to get stuff evenly distributed.

step 3: wait

go read a book. maybe something by orson scott card or tracy hickman. i really liked dragon wing by tracy hickman and margaret weis. the black company by glen cook was also a good (albeit very fast) read.

let this concoction simmer (LOW HEAT!) for at least an hour in an open pot. check it every once in a while and stir it around. notice how it looks like the the mud pits at yellowstone national park.

an hour like this is minimum, 6 hours is heaven. the longer you cook it, the better it will taste. (make sure your ability to pour olive oil isnt rusty yet)

if you are using whole basil leaves instead of chopped basil, add the leaves about a half hour before you plan to stop cooking the sauce. basil will turn sour if it is cooked too long, this way you get the flavor wiithout the sourness.

step 4: eat me!

if you need help eating, you shouldnt be using the internet

the best noodles to use are: spaghetti, spagatinni and vermicelli

some form of bread and a tall glass of milk top off a meal fit to feed the hungriest mobsters!

i hope this works out for everyone, i really like cooking spaghetti. maybe one day i will learn about lasagna. mmmm

This is a good recipe for meat sauce, although you can make it w/o the meat:

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 medium-sized onion
• 1 lb. hamburger
• 2 tbsp. Italian seasonings (oregano, basil, rosemary)
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 48 oz. Ground tomatoes
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt, pepper

Directions:

• chop garlic and onions and fry them in olive oil. Remove them to a plate.
• Fry the hamburger (until the color has changed) in the same pan and then remove to a plate.
• brown the tomato paste in the same pan- when the tomato paste is brown, add in the garlic, onions and hamburger and add all the other ingreedients as well.
• heat to boiling, then lower to a simmer
• cook 1-2 hours on low heat, stirring often

This recipe will easily serve a family of 4-6 people. You can put it on basically any type of pasta- my favorite is angel hair.

Tips and Tricks from a bonafide (partial) Italian:

• If you're using canned tomatoes, always use the Italian type, not the regular round ones. The quality of your sauce will above all depend on the quality of the tomatoes you use.
• Always add salt at the end of the recipe. Taste the sauce first! As it cooks down, it becomes more concentrated--and the less salt you will probably need.
• Most tomato sauces (unless of course they are no-cook) taste best if they have simmered for at least two hours.
• Simmer the sauce on low heat. You'll ruin it if you try to cook it down too quickly.
• Don't go easy on the herbs. Bland sauce is the pits.
• Add a bit of sugar to taste. (Yes, sugar.) I know it sounds weird, but it's the secret ingredient, short of adding a teaspoonful of human blood.

Cooking sauce ,like making love, involves attention to detail, time (the longer the better), patience and a worshipful attitude.

That's why we Italians are the authority on both. :P

"In the window I smelled all the food of San Francisco. Just show me the bluefish spangle on a seafood menu and I'd eat it; let me smell the drawn butter and lobster claws. And oh, that pan-fried chow-mein flavored air that blew into my room from Chinatown, vying with the spaghetti sauces of North Beach, the soft-shell crab of Fisherman's Wharf -- nay, the ribs of Fillmore turning on spits!"
Jack Kerouac,” On the Road”, 1955

Lometa's Spaghetti Sauce

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 lb hamburger (if meatballs are not made)
4 cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)
1 large can of Peeled Tomatoes
2 small cans of Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Sweet Basil
1½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Pork chop or Italian Sausage

Fry garlic in olive oil slowly for about 5 minutes. Add hamburger and fry until brown. Add tomatoes and tomato paste, plus two tomato paste cans of water to meat. Add sweet basil, salt and pepper. Taste sauce for bitterness, add sugar if bitter. Add in pork chop or sausage. Simmer 2-3 hours. Stir often to make sure it's not sticking. Remove pork chop or Italian sausage before serving.

Serve over Lometa's Meatballs

Buono Appetito!

A litte history

The original recipe was handed down from my mother's side of the family. Through the generations the recipe has changed all are measurements to taste. You may want to add oregano as the original one did not call for it. The tomato, Lycopersicon exculentum is considered by many to have been first domesticated in Mexico, where a variation of the wild cherry tomato was developed. Sometime between the middle and end of the 16th century the Spaniards acquainted the Europeans with the tomato from Peru who by and large greeted this fruit with apprehension and disdain owing chiefly to the tomato's association in the Solanacea family, which consists the deadly nightshade as well as many other poisonous varieties. One European source entitled Gerarde's Herball, published in 1597 lists tomatoes "commonly available in Italy and Spain", listing them as the places where he picked up the seeds for his own garden. The author mentions that he was growing and eating both red and yellow varieties. Incorporating a picture for classification of the plant he retained a poor opinion of them but adds:

"In Spain and those hot Regions they use to eate the Apples prepared and boiled with pepper, salt and oyle: but they yeeld very little nourishment to the body, and the same naught and corrupt. Likewise, they doe eate the Apples with oile, vinegre and pepper mixed together for sauce to their meat, even as we in these cold countries doe Mustard."

While Northern Europeans suspected the “wolf peach” was poisonous, it was the Italians who hailed it as pomi d'oro meaning golden apple eventually adopting it into their cooking. The French greeted this love apple or pomme d’amour gastronomically as well aphrodisiacally, yet it wasn’t until the 1830s that the tomato was much more than an oddity in England or America. “Today, the tomato is known as the pomodoro in Italy, as the tomate in France, Germany, and Spain, and as the tomaat in Holland,” says one expert surrounding the birth and continuing history of this heart-warming plant. The tomato came to America in the late 1700’s along with all of these legends. Thomas Jefferson and other venturesome gardeners encouraged its popularity and by 1835, tomatoes were widely eaten.

Trivia

Did you know?

• Pasta existed for thousands of years before anyone ever thought to put tomato sauce on it. The Spanish explorer Cortez brought tomatoes back to Europe from South America in 1519. Even then, almost two centuries passed before spaghetti with tomato sauce made its way into Italian kitchens.
• Talking about spaghetti and meatballs: the Italians ate meat only a few times a month. When they arrived in America, where meat was so plentiful, they incorporated meat into their cooking more often, making meatballs an American invention.
• The first American pasta factory was opened in Brooklyn, New York, in 1848, by a Frenchman named Antoine Zerega. Mr. Zerega managed the entire operation with just one horse in his basement to power the machinery. To dry his spaghetti, he placed strands of the pasta on the roof to dry in the sunshine.
• The stuff that makes tomatoes red may possibly aid n reducing the risk of prostate cancer. In a study from 1986 to 1998, evidence was found in men who ate a diet rich in “tomato sauce, ketchup or other tomato-based products containing the powerful antioxidant known as lycopene were up to one third less likely to develop the disease.”

Dr. Edward Giovannucci of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, the first author of the study, said: “Spaghetti sauce was the most popular” and also looks as if to give the most protection, noting that cooking raw tomatoes, as is done to make spaghetti sauce, may break down cell walls of the fruit and allow the body to absorb more of the lycopene.

• One cup cooked spaghetti provides about 200 calories, 40 grams of carbohydrates, less than one gram of total fat, no cholesterol and only one gram of sodium when cooked without salt.

Mind your forks and spoons! According to Miss Manners, if someone is looking a fork is the only utensil that may be used to eat spaghetti.

oops! Did you get some sauce on your favorite pair of pants? To remove the stain pre-treat with a stain remover then wash. Is the stain still there? Sponge it with a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water, rinse in cool water. Try the stain remover again then wash.

Pasta Trivia:
www.makepasta.com/pastatrivia.html

TMSC: site map:
www.morningstarco.com/sitemap.html

Tomato History:
http://www.hungrymonster.com/FoodFacts/Food_Facts.cfm?Phrase_vch=Tomatoes&fi52

This is how I make my meat sauce. My family and friends seem to love this stuff. It must be pretty good because my brothers actually ask me to make it- and you know if your brother acknowledges that something you make is good, well it must be good!

Basic Ingredients 1 package of ground beef (about 1 pound)

1 jar of spaghetti sauce. Ragu is good, Classico is very good. If you want you can just start with plain old diced tomatoes or plain tomato sauce. Store bought stuff is a good starter though.

1 bundle of green onions- chop it up fine, I cut off the tip and just use the white to green white parts

1 large white or yellow onion- chop it up, but big chunks can be good- just make darn sure you've peeled it well enough. Nothing like chunks of tough onion paper befouling your spaghetti sauce! Often I will peel off one good layer as well, just to make sure the onion is pure.

1 package of mushrooms, slice 'em fine or better yet buy them pre-sliced

1 green pepper, gut out the white part and chop it up

1 cubanelle pepper (this is a spicey pepper that you may wish to include- it is a hot pepper, but not too hot I find) They are large thin yellowish peppers

6 or so large carrots chopped up (peeling carrots is highly overrated, I generally don't bother unless there's nasty bits, YMMV)

2 tbsp. of Chopped, Pureed, or similar Garlic- you can finely slice up a clove or so if you want on your own- but just buy the little plastic jars of chopped garlic!

Seasonings that work:

Montreal Steak Spice

Various Garlic Plus type spices

Various spicey, cayenne based spices

Salt and Pepper

Cooking it Basically you start by dummping all of your veggies in a large (and deep) frying pan, with either olive oil, butter, or margerine. If you are on a health kick you can just spray the pan with cooking spray. Cook them just a bit higher then medium- keep them stirred up quite a bit. Once they are done (they will all be soft basically), then you add your ground beef. Brown the ground beef (turn the heat up a bit more and make sure you break up all the clumps of beef, stir everything up fairly frequently until its done). Once the beef is cooked add your sauce and turn the heat down to around low and stir it up every once and awhile. Add more seasoning as required. Serve with your choice of pasta.

Basically this is a veggie stir fry, then you add and brown the beef. I honestly don't know why people like my sauce so much. About the only thing I do different is fully cooking the veggies before even adding the meat- this makes them nice and soft as opposed to crunchy. The carrot thing I got from an old roommate- I thought he was nuts, but the sweetness of the carrots really adds something to the mix! YMMV

Tyrannosaurus's Mama's Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

This is my favorite food in the entire world. I pretty much live on pasta--to hell with counting carbs, I say--and this is one of the best sauces I have had. That sounds pretty subjective, considering that this is the recipe my mama uses, but she didn't start making it this way until I was in middle school.

This recipe makes several quarts of sauce (use a big pot) and freezes well. Our family of three makes about four meals with this sauce--and since this is my favorite, one "meal" for me is two large platefuls of pasta and sauce.

Step one: Mmmmeatballs

1. Heat your oven up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 175 degrees Celsius.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix:
   • 1 pound ground beef
   • 1 pound ground pork
   • 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs (Tyrannosaurus's Mama uses Progresso, but that probably doesn't actually matter.)
   • 1 cup of that crappy powdered parmesan
   • 2 tablespoons of garlic powder (I know, it sounds like a lot, but the spices in the meatballs flavor the sauce.)
   • 2 tablespoons onion powder
   • 2 teaspoons salt
   • black pepper to taste
3. If the meatballs seem too dry and won't stick together, VERY SLOWLY add milk until they will hold their shape.
4. Roll meat mixture into 1" balls, then arrange them on a cookie sheet (or a series of cookie sheets.)
5. Bake the meatballs for about 30 minutes.

Okay. So now you have some delicious meatballs. Now what? That's right, tomato sauce.

Step two: tomato sauce

1. Get out a big-ass pot. No, that one is not big enough... a bigger pot. This will almost/barely fit a 12-quart pot, so really, use the big one.
2. Now, the ingredients. Get your can opener out.
   • 3 x 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes. Mama uses Hunt's or S&W; I doubt that it matters all that much.
   • 1 x 15 ounce can tomato sauce
   • Basil, to taste (I use about 2 tablespoons.)
   • Oregano, to taste (I use about 2 tablespoons.)
   • 1/2 cup powdered parmesan
3. Pour all of the ingredients into your big-ass pot.
4. Turn the heat to medium.
5. Add the meatballs.
6. Cook sauce at least 30 minutes--a couple of hours is ideal, and it's best if you let it sit, covered, overnight.

Now, cook yourself up some pasta. I like spaghetti, Mama likes penne, and Patchy doesn't really care that much. Heat the sauce up, serve it over the pasta, and grate some nice parmigiano reggiano or asiago over it. This goes well with red wine and a nice green salad with balsamic vinaigrette; I also like it with a big glass of ice-cold milk.

An Englishman's Italian sauce recipe

Recently a few friends and family were gathered in the house. During a rush of nostalgia stories, as so often happens, the conversation turned to food. Tessie and I recalled a coming back from a camping trip in Yosemite and stopping in Lodi for lunch. We were fortunate enough to stumble upon an old-fashioned Italian restaurant, of the family kind, in which Grandma (or at least, her recipes) still rule the roost. Ever a fan of good rich sauces, I opted for the plainly-named "Meat Sauce", which turned out to be rather familiar. It took me back to my childhood.

Herewith a recipe based on a family recipe, one my Dad used to cook up. He would often use the remnants of a Sunday roast beef which he would process with an old hand-powered Spong mincer. He tended to cook it for less time than I do, but everything else is as I recall him doing.

I love cooking, but hate recipes. I generally play with them and almost never use exact measures. I love spoonsful, cups, dollops and pinches. If you prefer metric and stuff, go for it.

Ingredients

• A pound or so of meat. I prefer minced/ground beef.
• A pound of Italian sausage, full-flavoured.
• Tomatoes, chopped. About 3 pounds of fresh plum (sauce) tomatoes, or a pound-and-a-half of sauce.
• Have a jar or tube of tomato puree on standy. Always.
• A large onion, chopped roughly.
• As much garlic as you can stand. I manage about half a dozen cloves.
• Bacon grease or real lard. For the flavour.
• Olive oil, because.
• Seasonings. Salt, black pepper, fresh herbs. I find that basil and oregano work well.
• A glass or so of wine. Your choice.

Method, of sorts

Take the onion. Chop it up into bits; some larger, some smaller. Get a stout pan (I use a large cast iron skillet), put a gob or two of bacon grease (enough to liberally cover the base of the pan) therein, then heat it some before adding the onions. Stir that occasionally. Now, chop some garlic and once the onions have started to brown, add the garlic and pepper.

By this time, you will have chopped the sausage into bite-sized pieces and and are ready to mix them with the minced meat. Add a tablespoon or three of olive oil to the pan, let it sizzle for a moment, then toss the meat in and stir. Once the meat has browned, deglaze the pan with a glass of good red wine, or maybe even a darkish beer. I've used North Coast Brewery's Red Seal Ale, but anything between an amber and a brown ale works.

Now heave in as many chopped tomatoes as you can stand, or the tomato sauce of your choice. Keep stirring for a minute or two - the result should be pretty fluid at this point. Now the hard part. Cover the pan and leave it on a low, low heat for as long as you can stand to, remembering to stir once in a while to keep it from sticking. I keep it cooking until it's dark and rich and not at all liquidy.

If it seems overly meaty (or not tomato-y enough) add the puree. This is important, the richness of the tomato can make or break this sauce.

At some point before you serve, check for seasoning and add whatever you fancy. I often find that a little salt, fresh basil, oregano and whatnot helps. Cook a little longer. If possible, leave overnight; it really helps the flavours blend and meld and such. Serve over fresh, al dente spaghetti.

Notes

This serves four to six people with good appetites, it freezes well and keeps for about three months. Total cooking time is between four and eight hours, then I try to leave it to sit overnight as well, to let those flavours blend.

I tweaked the method somewhat, following a long weekend spent with an Italian woman and her family. Her mother had just such a pot of sauce on the back burner, with the intent of cooking it as slowly as possible for as long as possible. It worked.

Thanks, Dad.