Spaghetti Sauce for a Large Group

echo echo's Note:

Here's one for when you've got up to 20 friends or relatives under one roof and need to come up with something easy for supper. If you find the ingredients need more binding, stir in 1 or 2 cans tomato paste. The ginger and allspice make a nice change from the usual Italian herbs; I've started with fairly small amounts but add more of either spice if it suits you. Add a huge bowl of salad greens tossed with a mixture of oil, vinegar, a little sugar and fresh-ground pepper, plus a couple loaves of garlic bread and you've got a meal.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 20

• 5 lbs ground beef
• 2 large onions , chopped fine
• 2 large bell peppers , chopped fine
• 9 cups stewed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• ½ teaspoon ginger , to taste
• ¼ teaspoon allspice , to taste

Directions:

1. In a very large pot, brown the beef, breaking up the meat as it cooks, and spoon off most of the fat.
2. Add the onion and pepper, and cook over medium low heat until the onion is soft.
3. Add the tomatoes through allspice, and simmer until the sauce thickens a bit.
4. Serve over spaghetti.

Reviews

[Chef #1184017]

I thought this recipe sounded very interesting, especially when I read the review by the Italian Caterer! After chopping the onion and green pepper there was so much of it I decided just to use one of each...the rest of the recipe I followed exactly. Once the sauce was complete, all I could taste was onion and green pepper. I was really disappointed...so were the ladies at my church social.

[ItalianMomof2]

I cater Italian food mainly and always just make my own sauce in multiple batches. For some reason i could never get it right, unless i made small batches. Decided to try your sauce as it has pretty much the same ingredients that I use, plus a few extra. I'm glad that I read the other review first, because i got nervous it wouldn't have enough tomato in it either, but it was perfect! I used it to make a few trays of Lasagna and it got rave reviews! Thank you so much for your recipe! It's a keeper!

[Charlotte J]

I was a little worried about this after it was all in the pot. But I was really pleasantly pleased when we sat down to eat. This is has a lot of meat and not to much of a tomato base to it. I wanted to add some tomato sauce or something to it to give it more tomato kick. But I'm glad I did not! I think you could get 30 servings out of this, since you don't need much with all the ground beef in it. This has just a little bit of a sweet taste to it. Thanks for posting echo, I'll be making this again. Made for Zaar Tag 2007