Saturday, February 17, 2007

Red Spaghetti Sauce

My Italian mother's tomato spaghetti sauce... easily the best red sauce I've ever had. Meaty. Thick. Savory, not sweet. Easy to make and freezes well.



Serves 2-3 -- easily doubled or tripled
1 hour and 15 minutes
-medium pot or saucepan with lid
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1/4 lb. ground beef**
14.5 oz. can tomato sauce*
1 medium white onion, diced (not too small)
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried sweet basil*
1/2 tbsp dried oregano*

salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese, for topping over pasta
*Hunt's isn't 'listed' as GF, but I've never reacted to it and I'm very sensitive; McCormick spices are GF

**VEGETARIAN: Replace beef with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut up onion and mince garlic cloves.
2. Wash ground beef and place in pot or medium saucepan. **
3. Brown meat over medium-heat (cook it till outside surface is no longer pink, but not fully cooked).
4. Add in can of tomato sauce, onions and garlic. Also stir in basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
5. COVER, reduce heat to medium-low (or low) and simmer gently for 45 to 60 minutes. Stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed.
6. Serve over cooked GF pasta, with parmesan, or use in lasagna or eggplant parmesan-- Tastes better the second day!! I sometimes double the recipe, freeze in small baggies and heat up later for a quick lunch.
**If making a meat-less sauce (like for eggplant parmesan), skip this cooking step and instead add 1/2 tbsp olive oil directly into the tomato sauce.

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