What’s for Dinner? – Spaghetti

We’ve all been there from time to time.  Kitchen doors swing open and all across the country that sometimes dreaded question “What’s for dinner?” is asked as mothers cringe trying to come up with the answer.  I guess this image says it all.

I have never been one who was very good about having lots of things for dinner made ahead and kept in my freezer.  Maybe it’s because it is usually too full with ice cream and Freezer Jam!  But the one exception to this, for me, has been pasta sauce.  When I make it, it is just as easy to make lots as it is to make a little but I tend to get carried away and then there is always so much….my kitchen can look like it is part of an episode of I Love Lucy with jars and jars of pasta sauce everywhere.  Whenever I make it for a family dinner, we have it that night, I send some home with my girls, and still there is plenty to put in jars and keep in the freezer.  It freezes well and is easy to pull out and begin to thaw in a sink of luke warm water, and then just pour it into a pan and thoroughly heat through.

I refer to it as pasta sauce, and not spaghetti sauce, because I like to use it in a variety of different ways, not the least of which is on spaghetti.  It is known as the “pink sauce” in our house because it is actually a bolognese sauce which turns a bit “pink” with the addition of cream.

It can be used as the base for lasagne.  You can also buy pasta shells already stuffed with cheese in the freezer section at the market and pour some sauce over those and bake them.  My husband loves Italian sausage, so I brown the sausages and serve them along side some penne pasta topped with this sauce.  You can make baked ziti by  pouring it over some cooked ziti and putting it in a baking dish then adding dollops of ricotta cheese and topping with parmesan and then finally baking it until the whole things is hot and bubbling.

Anything made with this sauce is one of my family’s favorite meals.  It is something both children and adults enjoy.  One family friend once remarked “Just put mine in a cup and give me a straw.  You don’t need to bother with the pasta.”

The point is you can make a big batch of sauce and keep it in the freezer so on those nights when you hear the question”What’s for dinner?” and you feel like the woman in this drawing, you can pull out your sauce and make some homemade French Bread, and in half an hour you’ll feel like “Super Mom” with a delicious hot homemade meal on your table that everyone enjoys .

Now if you can just summon the good kitchen fairy to come in and clean up the dishes….:)

Pink Pasta Sauce

This is the basic quantity.  I often quadruple this.  Make sure you have a lot of jars on hand.

2 lb. ground beef
2 lb. Italian sausage (either sweet or hot. I use a mixture.  It can also be turkey Italian sausage)
Olive oil
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Red pepper flakes
1 bunch parsley
4 carrots
1 onion
2 red bell peppers
1 lb of mushrooms*
1 small bunch fresh basil
Leaves from 10-12 sprigs of fresh oregano or 1 Tablespoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning
2 large cans of tomato puree
2 large cans of chopped or diced tomatoes
½ cup red wine
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 cup cream

Brown meat in batches in olive oil along with 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic and ½ tablespoon of salt.  Remove from pan when browned.  Add more olive oil as needed while cooking the meat.  When the meat is done add more olive oil to coat the pan along with the butter.  Chop 2 cloves of garlic, with parsley and carrots in a Cuisinart or by hand.  Also chop onion and peppers in Cuisinart or finely chop by hand.  Chop mushrooms.  Saute all the vegetables along with the oregano.

Add remaining salt and black pepper and sugar.  Blend all the vegetables and about half of the meat in the food processor or blender until the texture is fairly smooth.  Return to pan and stir in tomatoes and tomato puree, the wine and the rest of the browned meat.  Add crushed red pepper to taste.  Adjust seasonings.  You may need more salt or pepper.  Simmer for about 1 hour or until thickened.  Add cream and chopped basil.
(adding basil near the end of the cooking time imparts the flavor but keeps it from becoming bitter).  Heat the sauce through.  Serve over any type of pasta.   Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

* Mushrooms are a great addition if you want to use less meat in your diet.  They have the texture of ground meat when cooked in the sauce and will easily take on the flavor of the meat that they are added to in this or other dishes where they are cooked with meat.  When you are preparing your mushrooms do NOT wash them under water.  Mushrooms absorb moisture very easily and when you clean them under running water or soak them in a bowl, they take on too much water and then lose their flavor.  Just use a damp paper towel and wipe them clean.  This is actually a fun way to let your children be involved and help you with the cooking.  Kids like to eat things they have helped to make.

Buon appetito!