Mom’s Spaghetti and Meatsauce
Prep Time minutes 30
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 0
Servings people
| Prep Time minutes 30 | Cook Time 30 minutes | Passive Time 0 | Servings people |
My mother made the best meat sauce. I am biased, but in this case, I have confirmation from all those who have eaten it and then turn it into their own family staple. The secret ingredient here is cinnamon –not too much that it tastes like breakfast, but just enough that it gives it a special taste. My innovation in this is that I throw all of the veggies into the food processor and grind them up to the size of ground meat. In the end, there are equal parts meat and veggies, which adds great flavor, nutrition and lightens it up. This recipe makes enough for a family dinner and then some more to freeze – which I think you’ll want to have on hand… I like to serve this with my favorite cucumber salad.
Ingredients
- 3 TBS Olive oil
- 1 Onion large
- 5 Cloves Garlic
- 3 Stalks Celery
- 3 Carrots large
- 1 Green Pepper
- 1 Red Pepper
- 8 oz Mushrooms cleaned with a damp paper towel and left whole.
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 TBS Oregano dried
- 1 tsp Red pepper flakes or to taste
- 2-3 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 8 oz can Tomato paste
- 2 14 oz cans Tomatoepuree
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 TBS Sugar optional
- 1 Lb Spaghetti
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Ingredients
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- Heat a large dutch oven (or heavy bottomed pot) with the olive oil on the stove over medium high heat.
- Roughly chop all of the vegetables, except for the mushrooms.
- Place the rough chopped veggies (in batches) into a food processor and grind into “ground meat” sized pieces. I start with the onions and garlic and then add them to the pot with some salt and pepper. I then do the same with the celery, carrots and peppers – in batches, and add them each of the pot.
- Add salt and pepper to the cooking veggie mixture and sautee until most of the moisture from the vegetables has evaporated.
- Then, grind up the mushrooms and add them to the pot with half of the seasonings (1 tsp cinnamon, 1 TBS oregano and ½ tsp red pepper flakes).
- Once the mushroom moisture has evaporated again, add the ground meat.
- Break up the meat so that there are no clumps and it is evenly mixed into the veggie mixture.
- Add the remaining seasoning and let that all cook for 5 minutes.
- Once the meat no longer looks pink, add the tomato paste and mix in to the veggie/meat mixture and cook for a few minutes.
- Then add the tomato sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper and if you like, a little sugar to take off any acidic bite from the canned tomatoes.
- Cover and bring to a boil and then simmer covered on low for a half hour.
- Cook spaghetti as instructed, drain and serve toped with the meat sauce.