Cooking In my spare time

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, while I'm semi-retired. I remember when I was in college, I thought I could cook spaghetti sauce, but I realize I had no idea what I was doing and it sucked. (Those that tried it then, were just being nice.) Since I've grown a bit wiser and can at least tell if food is good or not (to my taste), I thought I'd throw out a recipe for meat sauce that I think is pretty tasty, even if I do say so myself. Easy prep and not that long to finish on simmer. It makes a good medium thick sauce; enough for three or four meals for two people, depending on how hungry you are. If you like tomato'er sauce, use more tomatoes and less puree. Also, if there are veggies in here you don't care for, like celery and bell peppers, don't add it. It will taste just fine without it. Don't ask me why the canned tomato stuff comes in such odd sizes, as I have no idea.

Meat Sauce Recipe for Spaghetti or other pasta dishes
By Sam

(Adapted from Donatelli’s)

Ingredients

· 1 pound of lean ground beef (ground round is good)
· 1 tablespoon minced garlic
· Salt and pepper to taste
· 1/8 cup of olive oil or canola oil (4 tablespoons)
· ½ cup of diced onions (white or yellow)
· 1 tablespoon of beef base or 1 cup beef stock
· 1 tablespoon of chicken base or 1 cup chicken stock
· ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
· 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
· 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
· 1 tablespoon Worchester sauce
· ½ cup of red wine
· ½ cup of chopped celery hearts
· ½ cup of chopped bell pepper (any color)

· 1 teaspoon dried or fresh basil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Or
· 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

· 1 - 6 ounce can of tomato paste
* 2 - 10 ounce cans of tomato puree
· 1 – 15 ounce can of crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes (no salt added preferred)
Or
· 1 – 29 ounce can of crushed tomatoes in puree
· 1 - 10 ounce can of tomato puree
* 1 - 6 ounce can of tomato paste

Optional:
· ¼ cup of chopped black olives
· ½ cup of sliced or rough chopped mushrooms (baby Bella or white)

Directions

· Brown ground beef with minced garlic. Salt and pepper to tasted. Drain and set aside.
· Place oil and onions in saucepan and sauté on medium high heat until onions start to be come translucent, about 5 minutes.
· Add chopped celery and bell pepper, stir and sauté for additional 5 – 8 minutes.
· Add all tomato products.
· Dissolve beef and chicken base in 6-8 ounces of water, if using base. Stir this into sauce.
· Add remaining ingredients: Worchester sauce, ground pepper, granulated garlic, wine, Parmesan cheese, Italian spices
· Allow to heat for 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
· Stir in drained ground beef.
· Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
· If desired, add chopped mushrooms and black olives after ½ - ¾ hour (or just throw them in when you added the ground beef)
· Stir sauce occasionally while simmering. If heat is too high, the sauce will boil excessively and splatter everywhere.

Serve over favorite pasta.

Cooking Pasta

· Add 3 quarts of water to pot.
· Add a tablespoon of olive or canola oil and teaspoon of salt.
· Bring water to slow to medium boil in pot.
· Add pasta to boiling water. Stir occasionally while pasta cooks no longer than 12 minutes for al dente.