Italian Spaghetti Sauce

Submitted by LARavenscroft

"This is a recipe that I found in "The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook" by Majorie Hurt Jones. The original recipe does not call for ground beef and I have adjusted the amount of vegetables in the recipe as well."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• cooking spray
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used Dei Fratelli Seasoned DIced Tomatoes)
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1⁄2 cup red wine (or water)
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 red pepper flakes, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried basil

directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Spray w/oil.
3. Add ground beef, onions. celery, red pepper and garlic.
4. Saute` until beef is no longer pink and veggies are tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
6. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
7. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 1-3 hours.
8. If sauce becomes too thick, thin with a little water.
9. Remove bay leaf and serve with your favorite pasta.

Reviews

[Hill Family]

I made a few changes based on what I had on hand. I used a green bell pepper and fresh herbs. I used fresh tomatoes and lots of them. I also didn't have or rather couldn't find balsamic vinegar so used red wine vinegar instead. This made for a kind of sweet sauce. I also added a pkg of sauce mix as I had used tomato sauce instead of paste. Oh and finally rather then letting this cook on the stove for 2-3 hours I placed it in the crock pot and cooked it on medium/high for 3 hours.

 

[bluemoon downunder]

An oh-so-easy-to-make and wonderfully flavoursome spaghetti sauce which we thoroughly enjoyed with angelhair pasta and grated parmesan. :) In making it, I used dried Bush Tomatoes (a native Australian plant) instead of the tomato paste, a standard substitution for me as tomato paste disagrees with me, omitted the red pepper flakes (cannot abide anything hot!) and added rosemary and sage to the other herbs. I also increased the garlic and added a cup of sliced mushrooms (again, personal taste preferences). The blend of herbs with the honey, wine and balsamic vinegar gave this a distinctly different taste from other pasta sauces we've eaten. We really loved this sauce and when I make this next time, I'll certainly be doubling the recipe. Just so easy to take a quantity of this out of the freezer for really quick - and totally delicious - meals on busy week nights. Thanks so much for sharing this super recipe. Made for 1-2-3 Hit Wonders.

 

[The Flying Chef]

This is an excellent recipe!! It is very easy to prepare, with a fantastic end result, full of flavour. I too added some fresh sliced mushrooms. As I was only making for three, I had leftovers so I used the rest of the sauce in cannelloni topped with a cheese sauce and it was awesome. The sauce is very versatile and could be used with spaghetti or with cannelloni or as a sauce for lasagne. We grated fresh Parmesan cheese over ours and it really was a delicious meal.

 

[Boomette]

I used a bit less of 1 cup of celery but added a package of sliced mushrooms. I used orange bell pepper (2 small). This is delicious and smells great. Thanks LARavenscroff :) Made for Newest Zaar tag.