Mrs. Stickinthemud's Box

In which Great Grandmother's recipes endure modernization, alteration & other misdeeds

Spaghetti Sauce

Real Spaghetti Sauce A Real Spaghetti Sauce B

The maternal side of my family has strong Sicilian heritage… and recipes.  Italian food wasn’t in short supply in our home while growing up.

Therefore, I was curious when I came across my German great grandmother’s recipe for “Real Spaghetti Sauce.” I glanced over the ingredients and decided that it had great potential to be yummy.  Tonight I cooked it up, and… well… Ottie made a good sauce!  While it was simmering, my pa said it smelled very familiar.  He wonders if perhaps his mother made it a few times when he was a kid.

The only part of the recipe I changed was the mushrooms; I replaced each can with six fresh mushrooms. Another time I used the canned mushrooms, and they were yummy also. In the future, I would slice the carrot and leave it in the sauce (Ottie removed it with the bell pepper).

(Since I first posted this recipe, we’ve made this sauce several more times. It’s now a welcome option among my other pasta sauce recipes)

(I apologize for the missing photo; this recipe is among the many that need to be made and re-photographed)

 

Spaghetti Sauce

Created by on January 24, 2016

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 1/4 pounds Quality Ground Beef (I prefer a meaty meat sauce, so I double this)
  • 1 teaspoon Pepper
  • 3 tablespoons Olive Oil (for browning the meat)
  • 1 Medium Onion, chopped
  • 6 Cloves of Garlic (crushed, grated, or chopped
  • 2 Cans of Tomato Paste
  • 2 14 oz cans of Tomato Sauce
  • 6 Mushrooms, chopped (or 1 can)
  • 1/2 Green Bell Pepper (halved again)
  • 1 Carrot, cut into thirds (or sliced and kept in the sauce)
  • 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon Dried Basil, crushed
  • 3 Whole Cloves
  • 1 Bay Leaf (halved)

Method

  • Brown the meat with salt & pepper, and then drain or baste out some of the excess grease.
  • Add the onion and saute until limp. Then add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.
  • Add all except the cloves and bay leaf.
  • Place the cloves and bay leaf in a spice bag, and add to the sauce along with 2 cups water.
  • Simmer for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the green pepper, carrot, bay leaf, and cloves when the simmer is complete. Serve over cooked pasta of your choice.