Basic Spachetti Sauce
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 large yellow onions, thin-sliced
- ½ green pepper, seeded and thin-sliced
- 2 or 3 stalks of celery, coarsely cut
- ½ pound ground beef
- 2 tins condensed tomato soup
- 1 small tin tomato paste
- ¼ pound of fresh mushroom stems, thin sliced
- 1 C water
- 1 tsp oregano
Saute onion, celery and green pepper in olive oil for 3 minutes. Add ground meat (the cheapest grade is advisable here—because its fat content adds to the cooking liquid). Brown and pull apart meat into crumbs with a fork.
Add soup, oregano, mushrooms and tomato paste—plus a little water if needed to keep the sauce from being too thick.
Cover and simmer over the lowest possible heat for 25 minutes, checking occasionally to be sure it does not stick to the pan.
Serve on thin spaghetti—which cooks while the sauce is maturing. Place plenty of grated Parmesan cheese on the table, to sprinkle on top.
This is the basis for your own invention. You may add a cup of mixed leftover cooked vegetables; this not only extends the sauce for unexpected guests but also cleans out the refrigerator painlessly. Beans of all sorts, peas, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower . . . anything and everything is permissible in a good spaghetti sauce.
SPAGHETTI CARUSO substitutes ½ a pound of fresh chicken livers for the ground beef . . . and CLAM SAUCE is rapidly made by using a tin of minced clams (with their juice) instead of meat.
Cooked lobster meat, crabmeat, cleaned shrimps, or diced chicken can also be substituted for the raw ground beef— or you may use 2 dozen well scrubbed.
Cherrystone clams or fresh mussels, distributed atop the sauce for the final ten minutes of cooling.
Traditional seasoning is oregano, but marjoram, basil, rosemary or summer savory will do equally well. A teaspoon of celery seeds can replace celery stalks, and ¼ tsp garlic powder can replace the minced garlic clove.
For the palate geared to hot seasonings, add a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce, or a tablespoon of “hot” catsup.