I'm lucky that my mom lives with us and she does most of the cooking so when I get home from work, dinner is usually ready. However, we always encourage her to not bother cooking and we'll order out instead or if I feel creative, I'll cook. I am not the best cook but I do have some signature dishes. One of them Kayla loves and I will share it with you.
It's a simple dish: spaghetti with meat sauce.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture but the next time I make it, I'll update this post. Another unfortunate thing? I don't really use measurements when I cook - I just go by smell or taste or what I think would work. Once I master a recipe, I tend to put it away and start using other ingredients to improve it.
Ingredients:
- 1lb extra lean ground beef (you can also use chicken or turkey breast)
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce (you can make it but I'm not that good). I tend to avoid the mass-marketed kind (Ragu, Prego etc) because of the high salt content and go for the homemade jarred sauces sold in small mom and pop shops or specialty grocery stores. It's more expensive but tastes way better
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- mushrooms, chopped
- Ramano cheese - you can use freshly grated or the one that comes pre-grated from Tre Stelle
- Pasta - can be anything. Kayla likes macaroni or the mini shells. She's not a fan of the whole wheat pasta - too grainy
- salt and pepper
- dried oregano
- dried basil
- white sugar
Instructions
- boil pasta in salted water, drain and set aside
- while pasta is boiling, cook onions over medium heat until tender
- when onions are tender, toss in half of the garlic and cook for about 2mins
- add meat and cook until no longer pink
- when meat is almost done, add in the rest of the garlic, salt and pepper. Stir to mix
- when meat is cooked, drain and set back on stove on low heat
- add the sauce, mushrooms and mix
- add a pinch of salt, a bit more pepper, about 1/2 tsp oregano and 1/2tsp of basil. This is when I usually taste it to see if it needs more seasoning so season to taste
- Add sugar; season to taste. Don't add too much though - I usually just add maybe 1/4 - 1/2 tsp at the most
- Add the romano cheese into the sauce and mix well. Add more cheese to taste (I tend to dump a lot into the sauce because I love cheese). You can also use parmesan or mozzarella cheese but I like romano because it's sharper
- Simmer on low for about 30-45mins
Enjoy!
