quick & dirty spaghetti

Jessica Esquivel

Quick and Dirty Spaghetti and Meat sauce

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Author: Jessica Esquivel

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 45 Min

I racked my brain thinking about what recipe I should put down on paper when Lab Culture reached out to me. I was humbled to be a part of such an innovative way to highlight the diversity of scientists, but the fact that I had to draft up one recipe that defines who I am, who my family is, was daunting. I thought about the DIY Manwich recipe my wife and I concocted because I was missing my dad and that canned sauce mixed with ground beef was the only thing he knew how to cook when my mom and him divorced. I thought about my grandma’s fideo (loose description is Mexican spaghetti) and how it was a treat when Daddy would take us to his folks house on “his weekend” to eat dinner there. I thought about the Tijerina Stuffing, a recipe that’s been in my mom’s family for generations that we make on thanksgiving that has at least a dozen boiled eggs in it but my mom makes me my own batch because she knows I despise eggs (unless it’s in baked goods!). There are so many recipes that are so entangled with memories of my past: bites of dishes that take me straight back in time, like if those dishes were a time machine. To pick just one was too hard, so I won’t. The recipe I’m choosing to talk about isn’t my best, and my Italian friends will probably disown me, but sometimes after a really long day of research you need something quick and easy and tasty. My wife and I eat this recipe at least once a week, usually after the dreaded question “What are we having for dinner?” It’s spaghetti with meat sauce, the base being dried pasta and jarred red sauce, bearwith me it’ll get better, I hope!

Ingredients

• 1 lb 90/10 ground beef (can also do half and half pork/ground beef)
• 8 oz package of portabella mushrooms
• 2 large green peppers
• 2 tomatoes
• 8 oz package of cherry tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion
• 8 oz bag of matchstick cut carrots
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 jars of preferred spaghetti sauce (as a recently diagnosed diabetic, we use sugar free sauce)
• 1 package of preferred dried spaghetti (a diabetic switch is zucchini noodles!)
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 heaping tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 heaping tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 heaping tablespoon dried basil
• 1 heaping tablespoon fresh basil
• 1 heaping tablespoon paprika
• ½ tablespoon pepper
• dash of creole or cajun seasoning depending on your spice level (increase/decrease to taste)
• salt to taste

Protocol

1. Boil large pot of water with a hefty amount of salt. Don’t be shy salt it like the sea! Once boiling add package of dried spaghetti and follow cooking instructions from package. Do not overcook (about 8-10 minutes)
2. Chop all veggies and set aside (to speed up this meal, we chop these veggies ahead of time!)
3. Add ground beef to a large hot pan and cook through
4. Add worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and incorporate into ground beef
5. Add onion, garlic, green peppers, and carrots and sauté till fragrant and onions become translucent (about 2 minutes)
6. Add the two jars of sauce, portabella mushrooms, tomatoes and all the spices/herbs
7. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes for flavors to incorporate
8. Add a few ladles of starchy water to the sauce, drain the rest
9. Add butter or olive oil to spaghetti noodles. (We make big batches of sauce and noodles for lunches for the week. Sometimes it’s just buttered noodles with lemon parmesan and red pepper chili flakes, other times it’s noodles and meat sauce. Because of this we keep the noodles and sauce separate)
10. Add noodles to a bowl, add sauce, parmesan, and fresh basil. Dig in!

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