Andi’s Blog…or life according to the voices in my head…

Posted by request, but first a disclaimer. Please understand that I use the word recipe rather loosely. I don’t think I really measured much of anything that wasn’t already in some sort of pre-measured unit. I tend to cook rather instinctively or maybe haphazardly is more accurate, so you’ll be required to use your own judgement if you decide to attempt duplicating this concoction. I am by no means a gourmet chef, nor do I claim to be. With that said, I was very pleased with the results and found this sauce to be much tastier than any pre-fab sauce, or even anything I’ve tried at Olive garden, but I’m not sure how much of an endorsement that is.

I think rather than listing ingredients and steps, it would be easier (and hopefully more interesting) if I just try to recreate the original sauce incident. We’ll see how that works out, and then maybe I’ll recap the ingredients at the end.

It was a dark and stormy night (not really, but I’m feeling a little dramatic at the moment). I was hungry and bored with turkey sandwiches or ordering in pizza. I had some ground beef I needed to use and I was certain that I also had a jar of ready-to-go spaghetti sauce. However, when I peered into the pantry…gasp (cue cheesy/scary soap opera organ music) there was only a large can of plain tomato sauce. Well, that’s not all; the noodles were in there too, otherwise this would be a story about how I prefer soupy ramen with “broth” over the drained and seasoned style. I also found a can of diced tomatoes and several other non-spaghetti-related items. I decided to wing it just for kicks. Luckily, I had a few things onhand.

I emptied the can of plain sauce and the can of diced tomatoes into a large pot and turned it on low. Then I chopped up a large onion and a few cloves of garlic. I decided to sauté the onion (diced) and garlic (chopped semi-fine) before adding them to the sauce, and I had just barely enough olive oil to accomplish this. When I was satisfied that the onions were sufficiently cooked and the garlic was a deep golden color I added them to the pot of sauce. Then I put the ground beef into a pan to brown, sprinkled it with a bit of salt and pepper, and started rummaging through the spice cabinet for anything that seemed appropriate. I ended up using a fair amount of parsley and oregano, a touch of basil, a dash of Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy, and reasonably generous amount McCormick’s Peppercorn Medley, which is a blend of black, red, white, and green whole peppercorns with coriander and allspice. It comes premixed in a little jar with the grinder top. I think this may be a key ingredient as I forgot it the second time I made the sauce and it wasn’t quite as good as the first.

A note about herbs – I like to cook with fresh herbs when I can, but fresh oregano and basil can be a bit expensive for the amount I actually use, so I’ll save that for a more special occasion (read not dining alone). Can anyone tell me what the deal is with parsley? It’s pretty cheap, but why do they insist on selling it in such large bunches? Unless you are cooking for a very large gathering, how do you ever use that much parsley before it goes bad? I find myself in the same predicament with cilantro. Although, I was once served what appeared to be a regular garden salad, except it also included sprigs of cilantro. It made the salad nice and zesty w/o overpowering it. Also, if you’re feeling experimental and you want to try something different, add cilantro to a sauce instead of parsley. I did this by accident when I was trying to make my first lasagna. I think I was still in high school ,and I hadn’t been cooking very long. The cilantro is right next to the parsley in the produce section, and to the untrained eye they look sorta similar. It didn’t taste bad, just different, like lasagna with a kick.

Ok, back to the sauce at hand. When the beef was browned I added it to the pot and turned up the heat a little. Everything was going ok, but a test taste told me that something was missing. I usually like to add a little olive oil to the sauce, but I didn’t have any after sautéing the onions and garlic, so I was on the hunt for a substitute. In the refrigerator, I found two things that piqued my interest, a bottle of red wine vinaigrette and a bottle of Italian savory herb vinaigrette. I added a little of both, I’m guessing a tablespoon or so, just to see what would happen. I think this little step did a lot for the sauce. Then I brought the whole thing to a medium boil (with the lid on the pot unless you want sauce spatter all over your stovetop) and then lowered to simmer for a while. At this point, you’re pretty much done, but I think the longer you can let it simmer the more the flavors will blend.

The second time I made the sauce I added bell pepper and mushrooms. I also skipped the sauté step and just added the onion, garlic, and bell pepper to the beef while it was browning. This was ok, but I think that sautéing the onion and garlic does something special, so in the future I’ll probably do that and just throw the bell pepper in with the beef. Of course, feel free to add any other vegetables that you like and let me know if you run across anything that kicks it up a notch.

Recap ingredients:
1 lg (26 oz) can plain tomato sauce – I like Hunt’s Organic, mostly because it doesn’t have the added high fructose corn syrup (no offense, Effika)
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz) – I find they add a nice chunky texture and a bit of tangy zest to the somewhat sweet thick sauce
1 lg onion – diced
a few to several cloves of fresh garlic depending on your love of or tolerance for garlic – chopped semi fine
1 lb ground beef – sub Italian sausage or go meatless if you prefer
spices – salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, basil, peppercorn medley, spice herb mix such as Mrs. Dash
Olive Oil – for sautéing, and feel free to add some to the sauce too. Also, a little bit of olive oil added to
the noodles while cooking will keep them from sticking together
Your favorite vinaigrette – I suggest red wine vinaigrette, and/or a zesty Italian, but balsamic might be
interesting too

I think that about sums it up. Good luck!