This is a recipe I made up last night inspired by a creamy spaghetti sauce I had at a restaurant a few weeks ago. It turned out delicious and I will make this again and probably tweak it next time. Be sure to read my comments at the end about what I might do differently next time. This makes a big batch! Enough for 6 people with healthy appetites and some leftovers. Here is what I did:
1 box of angel hair pasta, prepared as directed + tossed in olive oil (just enough to coat)
Sauce:
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oil
3 T brown sugar (to taste)
4 cans tomato sauce
1 lg onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 cans mushrooms or 1/2 lb fresh
1/2 tsp each: oregano, basil, thyme, black pepper (to taste - this is conservative)
2 cubes chicken boullion
1/2 c whipping cream (more or less to taste)
Optional: Red pepper flakes and/or cayenne pepper - about 1/4tsp or to taste
Directions:
1. Sautee garlic in oil on med heat.
2. Add the meat and brown on high and try to separate it into tiny pieces.
3. Add chopped onion and mushrooms and sautee til onions are translucent.
4. In a large pot, combine all ingredients except cream and simmer for 45 min to 1 hour until sauce is as thick as you want it.
5. Stir in cream.
My comments:
** I would use 2 cans sauce / 2 cans of diced italian tomatoes lightly blended up for more texture. Just the tomato sauce by itself (before I added the cream) reminded me of the texture of ketchup, just too smooth for a sauce. Was great after adding the cream but I think diced tomatoes would be better. I used all tomato sauce because one of Ben's previous roommates left a whole case of tomato sauce here and I've been trying to dream up ways to use tomato sauce before it expires.
** Because the canned tomato sauce already has salt in it, you don't really need to add much extra. If you're sensitive to salt, get reduced sodium tomatoes or put 1 cube of boullion in and taste test it before adding the 2nd one.
Let me know if you try it and what you think would make this better!
Got this one on my menu for next week. I will let you know how it goes, I'm adding the tweeks you suggested. :D
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