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11/22/2004 Entry: "Shafer Family Spaghetti Sauce"

Yesterday I cooked my favorite spaghetti sauce (I talked about it in this journal entry). The recipe has developed from one I learned from my high-school boyfriend's family. I haven't intentionally changed it, but I'm sure it has developed over the years. The ingredients are flexible -- the most important points are the use of tomato soup as the main tomato ingredient, the bay leaves along with other, more typical pasta sauce seasonings, and the beer as an added liquid to thin the sauce as it cooks.

Main ingredients:

• ground beef
• onion
• garlic
• olive oil
• canned tomato soup
• canned mushrooms

Other seasonings:

• bay leaves
• salt (taste first)
• pepper
• basil
• oregano
• other herbs and spices that appeal to you.
• Some cinnamon gives a slight Cincinnati-chili taste.

Options:

• peppers
• fresh mushrooms and/or dried
• other tomato stuff like catsup, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste

For each pound of ground beef, chop up an onion and cook it in olive oil. Chop up a clove of garlic for each onion and cook it at the same time. This is sometimes known as "sweating" the onions. Keep the heat on the low side so the onion and garlic slowly turn golden -- don't burn them! If you have peppers to add, do it with the onions.

Add the ground beef and brown it.

Add a can of tomato soup for each pound of ground beef.
Also canned mushrooms, several cans worth. Fresh mushrooms if available, or dried (I added dried shitake slices last night).
Add a bay leaf for each person.

Other tomato stuff can go in now (see the options list).
Simmer the sauce for a few hours. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn on the bottom.
As the sauce cooks down, thin it with a small amount of beer. (It's tradional to drink some of the beer as you cook, but I usually don't do that much these days.)

This goes well with a green salad and garlic bread. Cook a bunch and freeze it!

Posted by mike @ 11/23/2004 04:15 PM PST

this sounds delicious!

Posted by michelle @ 11/22/2004 06:21 AM PST