Kitchen Wizard

...or How to Boil Water


Above is just one example of how I can take crap and turn it into something edible.

Well, not really crap...it just looks like it. It's actually sausage that I decided to play with. Momma never told me not to play with my food. Maybe she should have.

So anywho, since I'm in a giving mood, I thought I would share my spaghetti sauce recipe. I usually make 4 quarts of sauce and freeze it in 1 quart containers to get us through a month (Thursday is Pasta Night). You can half the recipe to serve 4, or quarter it (but why bother...have leftovers).

Scott's Favorite Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients

2 lbs ground meat or sweet sausage (i usually do at half, if not all sausage)
2 large chopped onions
2 stalks chopped celery
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 14.5 (or 2 28) ounce cans diced tomatoes(or canned whole tomatoes cut up)
1 12 ounce can tomato paste
2/3 cup spicy red wine (don't cheat..use something yummy)
4 Tbsp fresh parsley
2 Tbsp fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp fresh basil (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot cook meat, onion, celery, and garlic until meat is brown. Drain fat.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, parsley, basil, oregano, marjoram, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

**If you are freezing the sauce for later:
-Allow sauce to cool. Divide it up however you want (1 quart serves 2 people). Freeze.
-When ready to use, thaw slowly in a saucepan (sometimes i microwave it for a couple of minutes on defrost first if I'm in a hurry) and bring to a boil.
-Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until it's at the consistency you want.

**If you are serving fresh:
- Uncover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more, stirring every few minutes until it's at the consistency you want.

And that's what you see above... a squeezed out turd of sausage turned into a pot of rich and delicious spaghetti sauce. You can use water instead of the wine, but why bother? The wine makes it taste ten times better. Also, I usually use fresh herbs when I can. Right now I'm grown parsely, oregano, and basil. It makes a HUGE difference in the flavor.

Enjoy!

Labels: daily life

0 comments from the peanut gallery ·