Dr. Spaghetti Sauce

My people are Italian and you'd have thought that growing up in an Italian household that there would be a magical recipe for spaghetti sauce, but we were not the Corloeones! Mom is first generation born in America and my grandmother and great aunts worked for a living...they didn't stay at home cooking all day long serving the men of the family. The women in my family were workers. We still are...I'm listening to "The Busy Woman's Blues" while writing this recipe. It is the way we are in my family...busy busy busy...this and that, that and this, here and there.

Everybody's got different comfort foods and one of mine is this pasta sauce. It doesn't take as long as I describe it in the recipe, but it is a good excuse to relax and take a bath...just like how I make brown rice:

1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cup water
bring to a boil, turn heat to low. Take a bath. Rice will be ready when you feel relaxed. Simple. Any recipe that I can take a bath is a good recipe.

It is freezing and cold again in Seattle so this recipe is a good way for me to relax and take a bath. Plus as Anne starts getting off of all these drugs, she's super hungry and this is a good thing to have ready to go for those who get really hungry at odd hours of the day.


Anyway, this recipe is inspired by the busy woman's blues.


2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2 onions
4 stalks celery
6 cloves garlic smashed and chopped fine
1 pound ground meat...ground turkey or sausage or ground beef...whatever you're in the mood for. I like to mix Italian sausage and ground turkey.
1 28 oz cans crushed or diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 TBS tomato paste
red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 TBS olive oil

Brown meat in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Remove meat from the pan but leave the oil and brown bits. Add onion and celery and brown for 3-4 minutes over medium high heat. Add your garlic, herbs and tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste with the veggies for a couple of minutes. This adds more flavor to the tomato paste and will make your sauce sweeter and richer. If you like a spicy sauce, add red pepper flakes now.

Return your meat to the pan and saute for another minute or two, just until incorporated. Add your jars of tomato sauce. Add your diced tomatoes. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the jars of sauce and swirl out any remaining tasty parts. Do this for the cans of tomatoes too so you'll be adding about an extra cup or so of water.

Bring to a high simmer and then lower the temperature to medium and let simmer for about 1 hour. Take a bath. This is the bests approach to a good spaghetti sauce...rest while it is cooking, or clean up the kitchen. You know those pesky tomatoes will splatter over your stove and leave little spots everywhere, so you can use this time to tidy too, but I really recommend the bath.

Taste and add salt and pepper. You may not want to add to much salt since there is a lot of sodium in the jarred sauces, so I don't recommend salting until you've reached this stage of the cooking...but if you want to, go ahead. If it is too salty you can always more diced tomatoes. You can add more meat too...it's up to you.

The sauce will taste better after a day or two of resting, but is good the same day. I like to serve it over spaghetti squash. Pasta is great but its nice to have an alternative too.


So much love,
All the way from here...
Linda