Every Monday dinner has to be quick and nourishing because of 6pm badminton. This means we want something quick, tasty, and full of energy for the workout. Last night, it was spaghetti. I was craving it anyway, and it is a relatively fast meal these days.
Almost everyone has their own family traditional or secret special tomato/spaghetti sauce. When I was growing up our spaghetti sauce usually had a plethora of ingredients and a variety of meats in it. It had ground beef, hot Italian sausage and sometimes pepperoni or leftover meats from the night before. It also had green bell peppers, onions and a whole can of sliced mushrooms. At the time, I would spend the first 10 minutes of every spaghetti supper picking out every single individual piece of mushroom and onion, which I detested, and piling them up on the rim of my plate. But I still loved spaghetti dinners. Why?
Well, I loved the tomato sauce for one, the meat didn't bother me either, and the garlic bread with ooey gooey melted mozzarella cheese. The tomato sauce itself was pure tomato bliss, slowly simmered and seasoned just right. It was the first tomato sauce I ever learned to make, and one of my first areas of experimenting in the kitchen. The sauce consisted of a base of:
1 lb ground beef,
1 or 2 cans of tomato sauce,
1 small can of tomato paste,
maybe a little water if it got too thick,
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic,
dried basil, oregano, and pepper,
the occasional half or full teaspoon of sugar.
The beef was browned off in the pot and then everything else was added and slow simmered for at least an hour. Additional meats and were added during the frying process and if there was onion or mushroom in the mix, they were added with the meat before the sauce, herbs and spices hit the pot. The sugar is used to balance out any bitterness or tartness that might be in the sauce. You have to taste it as you go to make sure it's good, and to make sure it's what you and your family want to eat tonight. You taste it to make sure it appeals to your palette, and if it is, it gives you something to really look forward to serving your family. If it's not, it gives you a chance to make it better! If the sauce is bitter, add a half teaspoon to a whole teaspoon of sugar, and taste again. If it doesn't have the right flavour, smell your spices and herbs until you smell the one that appeals most to you, and add a little bit of that. If it seems too thick, add a little water or stock. You'd like a spicier sauce tonight? Add some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes.
Over the years the art of spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce has been lost to many people. There are ever growing aisles of the supermarket devoted to pasta sauces in convenient non perishable jars. Sometimes these sauces are tasty and some can even be healthy with hidden veggies. But some of them can be very bad and are often full of preservatives and sodium. Nonetheless, seeking a quicker alternative to my made from scratch spaghetti sauce, I began trying different brands. I was looking for a healthy, lower sodium, low ingredients I can't pronounce, and tasty sauce that I could add my own meat and some of my own flavorful flare to if I wanted. We tried a lot of different brands, but it took going to another country to find our favorite. While home in Maine to visit my Mom, she introduced us to her new favorite quick and easy spaghetti sauce. Thus began my renewed love of spaghetti sauce.
Tuttorosso Traditional Natural Pasta Sauce. It was so good, even just plain on pasta or with only ground beef in the sauce. I was delighted! My boyfriend loved it! We were excited to get home and find this sauce and use it in our own delightful dishes. The unfortunate thing we discovered was that Tuttorosso spaghetti sauce seems to only exist in the United States and we couldn't find it anywhere in our Canadian city. We still can't. But thanks to my wonderful Mom and her gifts of heavy boxes full of jars wrapped in paper towel and plastic bags, we have a stockpile of 'imported' spaghetti sauce in our apartment. I must also give thanks to the confused customs agents who let us through the border with said imports after we explain our story to them.
So, what's the deal with Tuttorosso? Each 1/2 cup serving contains 70 calories, 3g fat (0 saturated and 0 trans), 0g cholesterol, 620mg sodium, 12g total carbohydrates (2g fiber, 9g sugars), and 2 g protein. It is also a source of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron.
The ingredients list is: tomato puree, soybean oil, salt, sugar, dried onion, spices, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, dried garlic, citric acid and 'natural flavor'.
I know this is not exactly a low sodium sauce, but it is in the mid range and totally worth it for me. This is a great tasting basic sauce that I can ad my own flavors to. Here is what I did last night:
Ingredients:
1lb extra lean ground beef
1 ancient sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
1 medium onion, peeled and diced (since I've grown up, I have developed a like for onions)
1tbs olive oil
1tbs roasted garlic paste
1tsp montreal steak spice
2tsp dried basil
1tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 jar Tuttorosso Original pasta sauce
Steps:
1) Using a high sided saute pan, brown the ground beef. I alternatively like to steam the ground beef or gook it with a few tablespoons of water and the lid on the pan, stirring and breaking up the meat occasionally. I find steaming it or using water in the pan helps keep the meat from drying out or becoming too tough. Steaming also gets rid of a lot of extra fat, as it melts out before making it into your sauce. Otherwise, drain any excess fat and liquid out of the pan when all of the ground beef is cooked.
2) Add the olive oil, onion, pepper, garlic paste, steak spice, basil, oregano and pepper. Mix well and saute for 5-10 minutes until the onion gets soft and translucent, and you can smell the lovely garlic. Note that you can also use two or three (or as many or as few as you want) fresh garlic cloves, grated, minced or sliced, instead of the roasted garlic. And that these measurements are flexible and not exact. I use sprinkles and dashes and palmfuls and shakes. The key here is to TEST your sauce to make sure there is enough herby garlicy goodness.
3) Add the jar of tomato sauce. If the sauce appears to be thick or if a lot is left in the jar, add a 1/2 cup of water to the jar, put the lid on, and give it a shake. This should loosen up the sauce from the jar so you can pour it into the pan and loosen up your sauce just enough. Add more or less as you see fit.
4) Wait for your sauce to get completely warm and simmer a little bit to let the flavours mingle and develop before you taste it. If you find it tart or bitter and don't like that, add a half teaspoon of sugar and test it again. The same rule applies to other flavors and seasonings. Add a little bit at a time and keep tasting until it gets just right.
5) Boil your water and cook your spaghetti. You can even do this while you cook the sauce. Enjoy!
**Note** this sauce changes and is a little different almost every time I make it, depending on what I feel like and what tastes right on any given day. That is the importance of taste testing! I also use fresh herbs when I can and get a different flavor, or add different vegetables. Regular bell peppers work well, and so does shredded zucchini or mashed up steamed cauliflower if you are trying to hide veggies on someone, although beware that zucchini and some other veggies will add more moisture to your sauce, so it might not be as thick.
I hope that the recipes and memories I have shared with you inspire you to get creative and excited about your next spaghetti dinner!
If you would like more information on Tuttorosso Tomato sauce, check out www.TuttorossoTomatoes.com
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