Bomb Diggity Spaghetti

So for our first recipe we are going to have a spaghetti sauce that Rachel just made up for her and Chris' first dinner with friends on Wednesday night. It was something simple that she figured could be Lien's first attempt at cooking. However, little to her knowledge it ended up turning out better than any other spaghetti sauce she has ever made so bear with her as she tries to remember exactly what she did.

Btw, pictures will be coming soon. The camera is charging right now otherwise they would be in this post now.

Anyways, here we go:

Bomb Diggity Spaghetti:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon of minced garlic (conversely about 8 cloves of garlic minced)
1 yellow onion chopped
1 cup chopped carrots (so about 2-3 large carrots or a cup of baby carrots)
44 oz. tomato sauce (cans)
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of parsely
1 1/2 teaspoons of chili flakes (if you really don't want spice only add 1/2 teaspoon, but Lien it is necessary for the flavor!)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (TASTE first before adding this. Depending on your taste you might not want it)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar packed (this means you smush as much brown sugar in that measuring spoon as you can)
1 lb of ground turkey meat (ground beef or pork is just as fine)

1 lb of spaghetti

makes about 8-10 servings

Take out your largest pot, at least 8 qts. Put it on the stove and place it on medium-low heat. Pour in olive oil and minced garlic. To mince the garlic (do this before turning on the stove) take one clove at a time and then chop it into small slices. Then continue slicing it until it is as small as you would like it. For flavor's sake your spaghetti will taste more like garlic the smaller you make the garlic. If you like chunks of garlic that is fine too.

Once the garlic and the olive oil are warming in the pot, chop the onion and carrots. Do not do this before because then you will allow the garlic time to infuse with the olive oil while you chop the onions and carrots. To chop an onion, chop off about 1/4 inch of the top and bottem. Then peel the skin off (the brown part). Then chop in half length-wise. Cut each half one at a time. Place your hands on the top and bottom of the half, with the middle flat side on the cutting board. Then with a smaller knife slice the onion width wise under your other hand that is holding the top and bottom together. Rotate the onion 1/4 so that way the top/bottom is facing you while you are still holding all these slices together. Then very carefully cut length-wise, which should then result in a diced onion. Conversely you can take each individual slice and cut it length wise so you get diced onion. (Or you can ask your roommate to show you!) For the carrot if using baby carrots just slice them width wise into about 1/4 inch slices. Do that till you have 1 cup of carrots. Otherwise if you have large carrots, then similarly slice the bottom until you start getting to the thicker part of the carrot (where it is over 1/2 inch wide). With this thicker part, cut the carrot in half length wise, and then in half again length wise, so you end up with it in quarters. The continue slicing it into 1/4 inch thick slices.

Once you are done chopping the onions and carrots place them in the pot with your olive oil and garlic. Stir your ingredients to coat the veggies in the olive oil. Then cover the pot, turn up the heat to medium, and let the veggies cook for about 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is no longer opaque, and beginning to get transparent (but not completely clear). Then add the tomato sauce and stir. Then add all of the seasoning (including the sugar). Allow the sauce to simmer (so just slowly bubble, on medium low or low depending on the strength of your stove), for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to start to mingle. Then taste and add some more seasoning if you wish. Then add the ground meat, and chop to your desired piece size. The longer you cook the sauce the more fragile the meat will get and thus it will become more of a ragu rather than "meatball"-like.

After you add the meat you just need to cook the sauce for another 15 minutes on medium low heat. Then reduce to low heat and cook for as long as you want. The longer you cook the sauce the more flavor it will have. I cooked mine for about 3 and 1/2 hours the other night, but I have also made spaghetti before in under 1 hour, so it is really up to you. Just need to most importantly make sure the meat is cooked.

In the mean time you can boil a pot of water. For this amount of pasta listed, you will need another pot of comparable size. For the amount of pasta you will eat at once Lien, you can use a smaller pot and only about a little over a quarter's size in diameter of pasta. Main thing is to fill your pot 3/4 of the way with water so you don't put too little in. Then bring the water to a boil. Break the spaghetti in half so it fits in the pot and you don't have to push it into the water (thereby avoiding burns). Then read the instructions on your speghetti packet for how long it needs to cook. Angel hair pasta is about 4 minutes, sometimes 3 if you want it al dente (a little chewy), whereas spaghetti normally takes about 8-11 minutes depending on its thickness. Then strain your pasta in the sink. Place in serving bowls and then with some spaghetti sauce on top and serve.

If you are not combining the spaghetti with the sauce immediately, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it and stir it to coat the noodles. This will prevent them from sticking together.

Let me know if you have questions still,
Rachel