Tonight I am making Home Made Company Spaghetti. This is the kind of spaghetti that my Italian Grandmother Annette always made. Each time she made it, it would be slightly different. Each time she made it, it had different ingredients in it. If you asked her for the recipe like I did so often, she would reply, "It doesn't have one Shereeee. It is a little of tis and a little of tat!" Over time, I learned by arriving early that she was cleaning out the refrigerator while she made it. Along the way she left me tips by teaching me to freeze unused veggies (like tips and edible stocks) that I would of just thrown away and putting them in a freezer bag marked for soup. I think she also used it for her Spaghetti sauce chopped into tiny pieces.
I also had a friend who was Italian, and she would add spinach chopped up finally to her sauce. Her daughter would try to make it without the onions, garlic and spinach and then would complain that it didn't taste right. Silly girl!
So these are my rules for my Company Spaghetti Sauce.
1. I use 3 types of meat and one is always Italian Sausage (Turkey, beef or Chicken)
2. Yes, I put carrots in it along with what any other veggies I find in the refer.
* Tip - Run them through the food processor and whatever you don't use, put in the freezer marked veggies.
3. I triple the garlic.
4. I always use fresh basil. Yum!!! I love my fresh herbs from the garden in it too.
5. DON"T ADD SUGAR! Use red wine instead. Make sure it is one that is drinkable. Those cooking wines are nasty.
My Grandma would be so proud of me, or mad at me for giving away her secrets!
Shereeee now needs to stir the sauce.
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3 comments:
Sounds yummy! Thank for sharing your grandma's secrets :)
~Jasmine
Cleverly written! :-)
Love, Gretchen
I sort of do the same thing. All of my cooking is a bit of this and that too :). I am not a recipe person.... nothing tastes as good if i follow a recipe. I guess you can say i create when i cook :).
Since we started weeding grains out of our diet we use spaghetti squash noodles instead. When not available i use rice noodles or go with out noodles and we have just the meat with loades of veggies in our sauce.
I also use carrots, have for a long time. I saw a cooking show once with a little old Italian lady making her sauce and she added carrots and said "all the best sauce has carrots in it". Was this your grandmother, LOL.
Anyhow i often freeze up the bits like you said for use in bone broth. And i use real bone brtoh instead of water or wine.
Real bone broth is loaded with nutrients, minerals, gelatin, etc.(it is said that we need healthy fats like butter/animal fats or gelatin eaten with our meals to absorb/assimilate the nutrients in our food). So i have replaced water with broth for every thing, homemade gravies, sauces, simmering meats, veggies, etc.
I love the food processor too. I try to do up bags of fresh veggies like you mentioned, stuff i want for soups in one bag, one for spaghetti. I try to keep a couple of variety mixes in freezer to add to sauces and meats on the days/nights i don't have much time to cook. This has really helped to makes sure everything is scratch/home cooked.
I will often use left over pureed squash or pumpkin to soups and spaghetti sauce too (if i am not using spaghetti squash noodles). Finely chopped and pureed = stealth veggies, nobody notices.
Julia
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