All the time I ask my husband what his favorite dish that I make is. He always says “everything” and then I demand that he be more specific, to which he replies “probably your spaghetti”.
Honestly, that is so weird to me because I feel like I have made some pretty darn good meals for us, so how could my spaghetti be the first to top that list??
I started thinking about it, and I realized, that it is pretty good lol. I guess I kind of had this stigma against spaghetti growing up because it was such a repeat meal in our household. Mostly because, you can throw a basic spaghetti together super quickly and kids usually like it, so I get it. But, I was burnt out from it.
I guess subconsciously I started making spaghetti to be a little more interesting and I didn’t really take the time to start disassociating the stigma against it, in my mind.
But I have now, and I’m happy to share some tips with you about it. Truth be told, I make adjustments all the time to my spaghetti, but I tried marking down my favorite things about it and told my self to start being consistent with making it the way I did tonight. Here is what I have come up with! I hope you enjoy 🙂
This cute serving platter you can find here
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. Spicy Italian Pork Sausage- remove casing. - 1 tsp garlic powder - 1 tsp onion powder - 1-2 TBS extra virgin olive oil - 1 medium yellow onion - 3 garlic cloves - 2 TBS tomato paste - 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes or about a dozen fresh tomatoes diced (you can do a combination 1/2 fresh & 1/2 can) - 1 cup water - 1 1/2 TBS brown sugar - 1 TBS fresh basil - 2 TBS fresh parsley - 12-14 ounces of thin spaghetti noodles - 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional) - salt and pepper to taste - parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions:
First begin by constructing your meatballs. I ALWAYS use this sausage for my spaghetti. You could use any Italian ground pork (spicy or non spicy), but the HEB Hot Italian Link Sausage is my favorite.
Remove sausage from the casing and set into a medium sized bowl. Add in garlic powder, onion powder and only 1/2 tablespoon of fresh parsley finely chopped. Start mixing the meat with the spices and begin to form meatballs using your hands. Grab enough to form a meatball about the size of a golfball.
Heat olive oil in pan over medium- high heat. Begin browning all the meatballs in the pan, turning them over from side to side. Once the meatballs are browned, add in chopped onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Next, add in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water and set the temperature down to a low simmering heat. Add in the brown sugar, 1 table spoon of the fresh basil, and the remaining 1 1/2 of fresh parsley. If you want additional spice in the sauce go ahead and add the red pepper flakes at this point. The longer you let the sauce cook down, the more flavorful it will be. Also, the more tender your meatballs will be.
I usually at least let it cook down for an hour. Always keep an eye on your sauce, if you let it simmer for a long period of time. You want to watch that it doesn’t dry out and start to burn, if it does begin to thicken and dry out, add another 1/2 – 1 cup of water.
Once the sauce is set to your liking, you can begin boiling a large pot of water for the pasta. Salt the water to the point that it tastes like salt water from the ocean. Once it’s up to a roaring boil, add the thin spaghetti pasta and cook till al dente. Which means to take it out of the water just before it’s fully cooked, because we want it to finish cooking in the sauce.
When your pasta is al dente, add the spaghetti noddles into the sauce dish with meatballs. Toss around and combine the pasta into the sauce. Let the pasta cook for a few minutes over the low simmer. If your sauce is needing a little more liquid at this point, use the water from large pot that you cooked your spaghetti in.
Turn heat off when pasta is completely cooked through. Let it sit for a few minutes so the flavors can sink in even more. Chop remaining fresh basil and add some parmesan cheese over and serve!
Thank you for reading!
The At Home Cook 