Growing up, Tuesday dinners were my favorite. Every Tuesday night my sister Patty and I had piano and violin lessons and before we would go, my dad would make the best spaghetti sauce in the world... with a kosher pickle on the side. I didn't even know this was strange until one time I had spaghetti at a friend's house in the 7th grade and when I asked for a pickle they all looked at me like I was crazy.
You need to try it though. There's something magical about the crunch of a tasty pickle in a meaty spaghetti sauce that just works so well. It's like the comfort of chili with the summertime feel of a hamburger.
Without further ado, here's what you need!
Prep Time -
Beginner: 35 minutes
Advanced: 80 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef (>90% lean)
1/2 lb italian sausage
4 strips of thick cut bacon (Pre oven-roasted if possible - stay tuned for upcoming recipe)
1 small white onion
1 package white or baby bella mushrooms
1 package spaghetti sauce mix
1 large can (16 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 large can (16 oz) diced tomatoes
5 large garlic cloves (preferably roasted - stay tuned for upcoming recipe)
Chicken Stock
3 leaves fresh basil (dried will work too)
1 lb spaghetti
Clausen Kosher Pickle Spears
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper (if that's your thing)
Italian seasoning
In a large pot, heavily start some water bowling. You'll want to drop the pasta as soon as your sauce is ready because the sauce takes less than 20 minutes but you want it to cook for a while so all the flavors have time to cook together.
Dice all ingredients into tasty sized pieces:
- Bacon - into 1/4" strips
- Onion - 1/4" cubes
- Mushrooms - 1/4" slices
In a large pot, begin browning your bacon on high heat. You don't want it cooked til it's Sunday morning crispy, you just want it so it's begun to lose some size and render some of it's delicious, delicious fat. When the bacon is about half cooked, add your sausage which also begin to release fat and delicious aromas into your kitchen. Finally add your ground beef and continue to brown. We are balancing the bacon and sausage fat with the leanness of this ground beef. Brown them all together.
Now add your onions and mushrooms and the spaghetti sauce mix and reduce heat to medium. You want very little liquid so that you begin to sear the spices and seasoning into the meat. Add some salt and crack some pepper in here (about a teaspoon of each).
At this point you can add both cans of your tomatoes into the pot and stir. Add basil, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. Keep this on medium and don't let the bottom scorch. If too much liquid begins to boil off, add some chicken stock in and rebalance the flavors/spices as necessary.
Your sauce is ready and cooking away.
Toss in pasta into your first large pot. It should take about 13-18 minutes depending on your stove to cook a 1 lb box of spaghetti.
Pasta.
Big ladle (or 2) of hearty sauce.
Pickle spear on the side.
Flavor town. Population you, bro.
Bonus
Mozzarella stuffed spicy meatballs! (recipe coming soon)
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