Occasionally, I tease my mom for frequently serving spaghetti for dinner. She has done this since I can remember and continues to do so today. What she doesn't know is that I have followed her trend. Shhh..don't tell her! 🙂 I understand why my mom likes to make spaghetti so often. It's a meal loved by many that can be whipped up in a jiffy, especially if using jarred sauce. But, you can quickly put this pasta dish together using homemade sauce if you just prep the sauce in advance.
Since the recipe requires almost 2 hours total of prep and cooking time, I keep this spaghetti sauce in our freezer, stored in zipper bags ready to serve 2-3 people. Because I have the sauce already made, it is still convenient for us to enjoy spaghetti for dinner when we're in a bind and need something fast. In fact, I believe we had spaghetti and this sauce twice this week!
Spaghetti Meat Sauce
Yield: About 10 servings
1 lb sweet Italian sausage
¾ lb lean ground beef
½ cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
dash of nutmeg
In a Dutch oven, heat the sausage, ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Drain any excess grease, if necessary. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and water and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Simmer, covered, for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.
Source: AllRecipes
