I would love to say that this is going to be a rip-roaring, rollicking post about meat sauce. But the fact of the matter is this: it’s 94 degrees out with a heat index of 101. I basically want to just drink cold beer and fall into a Real Housewives coma (2010 NYC on right now. Jill Zarin is about to figure skate–and what the hell ever happened to boring event-planning-Jennifer? Was that her name?). But I should just forge ahead and write about #20 Meat Sauce for Spaghetti. Well here goes.
I started around 6 pm with the goal of having dinner ready around 8:30 when I expected Cleve to be home.
I have transcribed the exact notes that I scribbled while cooking:
- 1 lb 1o oz ground beef
- shitake mushrooms
- olive oil spray instead of actual EVOO
- added a lot of extra garlic and a lot of extra onion
- why am I tossing the ground beef in flour (corn starch)?
- with a full lb of meat am I making sauce or a meatloaf?
- gravy=pasta sauce=NJ housewives=Specs & Marie
- Cooking @high w/ wine. Used a Chianti. Well they’re all from Rufina, right? 2009 bottled by Renzo & Masi. I know not.
- 6:42 everything is done and on low heat. Will put time on for 1 hour.
- I’ve already put the other cup of bouillon in because the sauce looks like chili!
- 8:35 and Cleve hasn’t yet arrived. Which is the beauty of this dish. I will drop the pasta, assemble the salad and make the toast upon his arrival. In the meantime there is wine.
Translation???
I had that much ground beef so I reserved the other 10 oz. I used dried Shitake mushrooms because the recipe called for dried mushrooms and that’s what I had. Yeah, this was a lot of meat for a pasta sauce and I think the corn starch will make it even thicker. It’s Italian food so I thought about the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Do they call sauce gravy? I think my Aunt Marie did–although she wasn’t Italian, she married a guy named Al who was Italian and who was a bookie and his nickname was ‘Specs.’ (pretty cool, eh?). Why didn’t we call it ‘gravy’ growing up? Why don’t I have an Uncle Carmine? I couldn’t quite figure out the name of the wine. Is Rufina the region? Wow this sauce is thick. It looks like chili. Thank God I chose a DiS! that can sit for a while because my boyfriend is always home much later than he estimates. Oh, wine!
DINNER IS SERVED!
This was good, albeit really, really thick. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I would never have thought of using dried mushrooms in a tomato sauce (especially Shitake), but it worked. They’re meaty and held up against all of the other ingredients.
And the other elements were super-easy. Almost afterthoughts. Salad? Done. Garlic Bread? Done. Fruit and Cheese? Hell yeah that was done. And with pleasure. There might be nothing that I love more than cheese. Well, maybe my new CHEESE PLATE! Authentic 1970s Spice O’ Life patterned cheese plate that I got at Goodwill for a whopping $3.
For my plate I combined apples, grapes, Wasa crackers, light Brie and a lovely blueberry infused semi-soft cheese called Yorkshire Wensleydale. It was expensive but worth it. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum.
This recipe made a TON of sauce so I froze a lot. I will be getting a lot of meals out of #20. I already used some to make a pizza on a ball of whole wheat pizza dough I got from Arganica. And that was delicious, too.
I am now done. There is a Lifetime Movie on starring Marilu Henner as an evil widow that is about to start.
Mmmmmmmm. Cheeeese.
Throw in some kidney beans and chilli powder, and this becomes chilli con carne …
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I really enjoyed this sauce. It was hearty as hell and even better when put on the pizza.