The Spaghetti Sauce I Grew Up On

I think there are an endless amount of variations on spaghetti sauce. Our favorite is almost always the one we grew up eating. Nothing seasons a meal better than nostalgia. So it should come as no surprise that although I love a variety of tomato sauces my favorite is my mom's.

My mom is a great cook. She got to being that way because deep down she is a fierce closet competitor. In other words, she seems all nice and sweet, but she plays for keeps, make no mistake about it. She has a friend named Doug that is not a closet competitor, he is very open about the fact that he wants to wipe the floor with you when you're in a competition with him. There is a reason I am telling all of this to you. You see, when my mom first got married her and Doug met through my dad. They bonded over their love of food and other things. They even started a little tradition of taking turns cooking meals. My dad and Doug's wife who also share a love of food had no problem with this. They also had no problem with the fact that Doug and my mom were constantly trying to one-up each other. My mom has told me a story about one time when she made a spinach pasta and an egg pasta and wove the two types of pasta together. Then she simmered them in a shallow saute pan and slid each woven piece of pasta onto the plates and topped them with a sauce. I mean really...who weaves pasta?

She got very good at cooking, and began cooking without measuring, which I have come to believe is a true sign of being comfortable in the kitchen. So, when I strapped on my apron to make the tomato sauce she made for me growing up I had to take the time to figure out and measure out the amounts of the different ingredients to get the recipe to be consistent, something anyone can recreate at home.

My mom's tomato sauce is very different than the sauce my mother in law makes (see that post here). It's different because it is a meat sauce with chunks of different vegetables throughout. It also uses mostly fresh ingredients, and it cooks in less than an hour compared to the hours my mother in laws sauce spends simmering away. Also my mom always made fresh pasta when she made her tomato sauce, which always took it to another level for me. There is nothing like fresh pasta. It's different, and even though I like my mother in laws sauce just fine, my mom's will always take first place in my heart and belly.

Printable version

Karen's Spaghetti Sauce

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 yellow onion; chopped fine
• 2 cloves of garlic; minced
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/2 a green pepper; chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 a pound of button mushrooms (or baby portobella mushrooms); sliced
• 1-28 ounce can of tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat heat the oil and melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.
2. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until the beef is no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the green pepper and the mushrooms. Continue sauteing until the the pepper and mushrooms are starting to soften, about 5 minutes. 
4. Add the tomato puree, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, and basil,  stirring to incorporate  Set the heat to low and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Check for seasoning and serve over linguine (I make my own for this dish. Recipe to follow)

Fresh Egg Pasta Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour (about)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 5 eggs

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl combine the flour and the salt. Form a large well in the middle of the flour. Crack the eggs into the well.
2. Using a fork, break the yolks of the eggs. Then, working from the outside of the eggs start to incorporate the flour until a dough forms. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until the dough is smooth, 3 minutes. Add flour if the dough is sticky. 
3. Wrap pasta dough in plastic wrap and allow to set out on the counter for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough and cut into linguine using your pasta maker. **Tip: Kids love to help with the making of the pasta.**
5. Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil. Cook pasta for 3 minutes. Serve with sauce.