Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

By Accipiter

Summary

Welcome back, friends. It's time for more instructional cooking from yours truly. Today we're going to learn how to make a delicious, easy-to-prepare meat sauce for spaghetti. Ideally you'll want to make your sauce from fresh tomatoes, but if you want something quick yet delicious, this is a great bet.

System Requirements

Not a whole lot here, folks.

• Olive oil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Salt
• Freshly-ground Black Pepper
• Red Onion
• Fresh Garlic
• Tomato Sauce
• Ground Beef

Preparation

Step one is starting the sauce. Get the sauce pot ready by dumping in about two tablespoons of olive oil and one clove of finely chopped garlic. We do this first, because these are the two ingredients that you want in your sauce from the get-go.

Dump a large can of PLAIN TOMATO SAUCE into the pot. Don't use shit like Ragu or Prego because they SUCK. Yeah, "Ragu! It's in there." It's going to STAY in there. You know why? Because it SUCKS. I prefer Hunt's plain old tomato sauce since it has a nice flavor and I can make sauce on MY terms.

While you're warming the sauce, get out the ground beef. Defrost as necessary, then brown some. I browned about half a pound in a small pan with half a clove of chopped garlic and a bit of olive oil. (This turned out to be one of my messier cooking adventures solely because I used a pan that was, in retrospect, too small. Use the right size pan.)

Feel free to drain the meat while you're cooking it, but don't bleed it dry. That's flavor you're dumping off. Remember, we're making meat sauce! When your sauce is nice and warm (slowly bubbling), add the meat.

Get out your red onion...

...and chop the motherfucker. Mushrooms would be an ideal addition to this sauce, but I forgot to buy them.

In addition to vital nutrients, many vegetables are a source of dietary fiber.

Once you've got the meat and the onion action going, mix it into the sauce really well.

Then add your parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.

Mix it good, then let it sit on VERY LOW HEAT for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. For the love of god, stir your sauce! If you don't, it will burn to the bottom of the pot and taste like CRAP. While this is happening, start preparing your pasta. Bring a pot of water to boiling, then add your pasta.

When it's soft enough, bend it so it's all crammed into the pot.

Drain your pasta...

...then pile some on a dish, and cover the top with your warm and now ready meat sauce!

Serve with red wine if you have it (Merlot is best), or if you have to drive, have some lime-flavored sparkling water like I did. I also had some garlic-stuffed olives along with it.

Delicious.