How to Make Classic-Style Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Your mom called it spaghetti with meat sauce, the Italians would call it Bolognese (which means it came from the city of Bologna), and I call it dinner. In most renditions of this dish, I’ve seen chef’s use veal, but how often does King Soopers have ground veal in the meat case? We’ll use some ground beef. We’ll also need some canned, diced tomatoes, fresh garlic, a carrot, fresh basil some dry red wine, yellow onion, olive oil and some salt and pepper.

When selecting your ground beef, try to find ground chuck or sirloin, in an 80/20 blend (80% meat, 20% fat). As far as olive oil is concerned, use an ‘olive oil’, not a virgin or extra-virgin. When we sauté items in olive oil, it is good to use Virgin, when using the oil in cold preparation, use Extra-Virgin, for slow cook and sauces, use plain old olive oil.

This sauce is one of my favorite quick meals, its very simple, very fast and super tasty. It’ll make enough to sauce about a pound of pasta or 3 ample portions. You can use spaghetti, linguini, fettuccine, angel hair, cavatelli, penne, ziti, tortellini, ravioli, whatever, my favorite is angel hair just because it hangs onto so much sauce. Cook your pasta as you normally would, and strain it, rinse it with very cold water until it is cool to the touch and then let it stand and drain while you make the sauce.

First let’s prep the ingredients. Start by peeling the carrot and mince it (cut it very fine), cut and peel the onion, cut it in a fine dice (that’s called brunoise, which measures 1/8th of an inch by and 1/8th of an inch… and I will be over later with the tape measure to check!). Crush the cloves of garlic with the flat of a knife and peel it. Mince the garlic. Now we will cut the basil chiffonade (which is French for ribbons). Simply stack your basil leaves on top of each other, and roll them up, now cut the roll, forming thin ribbons of basil. Open the can of tomatoes, pour out two separate cups of red wine (drink one while you cook, the other is for the recipe).

OK, this is all going to go pretty quick, so read through this once before you begin. Start with a large sauté or frying pan on the stove, over a high heat. Add ½ the olive oil. When the olive oil is good and hot (you can test it by splashing a small drop of water off your finger into the pan, if the oil ‘barks’ and jumps, its ready) add the ground beef, salt and pepper. Stir it well as it cooks, when all the meat has become grey (not browned), pull it off the heat and strain the excess grease off into the sink (you can do this by simply dumping the cooked beef into a colander, or pour it directly from the pan while using the back of a knife to keep the beef from pouring out). Return the pan and beef to the stove, over a high heat, add the remaining oil, carrot, onion, garlic and basil. Stir and cook this mixture over high heat until the carrots and onions begin to brown (caramelize the sugars in the vegetables). Add the red wine, let it boil for a few seconds them pull it off the heat, stir it well, being sure to scrape the bottom of the skillet. Return it the heat, add the canned tomatoes and remaining salt. Stir well, when the sauce begins to boil, reduce to a moderate heat, cook the sauce until it begins to thicken.

Some folks like to toss the pasta with the sauce, others like to pour it over the top, this is your choice. Just refresh the pasta by rinsing it in very hot tap water. Sprinkle a little fine grated Parmesan on top, drink the rest of the wine and enjoy.

If you enjoyed this recipe, check out the rest of my work. If there is something you really want to learn how to make, just send me an email – Crispychef@hotmail.com I’ll post it on this site and let you know when I do so!

Ingredient List:

Ground Beef 1 1/2 to 2 lbs.
Garlic (fresh cloves) 4 cloves
Fresh Basil 4-6 leaves
Canned, diced tomatoes 1 can (12-14 oz)
Salt 2 teaspoons
Olive oil 4 tablespoons
carrot 1 each
red wine, dry 2 cups
black pepper 1 teaspoon