When I first moved out of my parent’s house, I didn’t know a thing about cooking.
I watched my mom make a lot of meals, but I didn’t actively participate or learn how to do anything except for the most basic things like cutting vegetables or boiling an egg (and even boiling eggs was something I had to practice in order to perfect).
That said, I do love spaghetti. And my favorite is just basic spaghetti with meat sauce. Here is a quick, easy and basic way to make it.
This will feed four people easily. I only cook for me and mom, so we have leftovers to enjoy the next day. You could add one egg and breadcrumbs if you prefer meatballs instead of meat sauce. I’ll break down both methods here.
You’ll need:
- Spaghetti pasta
- 1 pound of ground beef (I prefer 80/20)
- 1 (24 ounce) jar of spaghetti sauce (I use Prego Chunky Tomato, Onion & Garlic)
- 2 tablespoons Prego Basil Pesto
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ cup diced sweet onions
- ¼ cup red wine
- salt
- If making meatballs instead:
- 1 egg
- Breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
If you want to make basic spaghetti with meat sauce, toss the ground beef and diced onions in a pan on medium-high heat and start browning the meat. After a few minutes add the garlic, wine, Italian seasoning, and basil pesto.
While preparing the sauce get your pasta water boiling. When it starts to boil add plenty of salt to the water. The measurement for the amount of pasta I plan to cook is enough pasta to fit between my index finger and thumb if I’m making the okay symbol with my hand. I know, very scientific, right?
If you have a pasta measuring tool, use that. If you have a pasta spoon the hole in the center of the spoon is the amount of pasta for one serving, which is something I never knew until recently…go figure!
Back to the meat sauce. Add in the jar of sauce and stir well. Turn the heat down to medium low. Once the pasta is al dente (cooked to be firm to the bite, not soft or mushy, but with a slight chewiness in the center), usually after 12 minutes, use your pasta spoon or tongs and add the pasta to the sauce along with a small ladle of pasta water. Stir well and turn the heat to low. Let it cook another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally so the pasta soaks up the sauce. Serve as is or topped with Parmesan cheese.
If you prefer meatballs, place the ground beef in a bowl. Add the egg, meatball seasonings and just enough breadcrumbs to bind everything together. Form into golf ball or ping pong sized balls. Heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 25-30 minutes. While they are baking prepare the pasta and the sauce as mentioned above (minus browning the meat, obviously). Once the meatballs are ready, toss them in the sauce and add the pasta and a small ladle of pasta water when it’s ready.
Again, a very basic method of spaghetti with meatballs. If you prefer more flavor use ½ pound of ground pork mixed with ½ pound of ground beef to make your meatballs.
Once you try this basic method you can play around with various herbs and spices to make it a bit fancier. Adding cayenne pepper can add a depth of flavor infusing heat into the dish. Sometimes I drizzle my plate of pasta with Tuscan Herb infused Olive oil.
Do you have a favorite basic starter recipe you’d like to share? Email me at: PattyL@brewermediagroup.com