Food Friday - Spaghetti: Traditional and Gluten Free

from Kris B.

Spaghetti sauce seems to be one of those things for which most families have a favorite, or perhaps even a secret, recipe.  And if not a special recipe, for sure a preferred jarred brand.  I make my own sauce most of the time, but in a pinch, I will use a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce.  There are plenty of tasty ones out there.  When I do make sauce, I make extra and freeze it for those nights when time to prepare dinner eludes me.  There is really nothing secret, or even special, about “my” recipe.  It is one that has evolved over time, taking in to account my personal likes and dislikes and those of my family.  My major dislike when it comes to spaghetti sauce, or any other kind of food for that matter, is mushrooms.  I don’t know why, I just have never developed a fondness for them.  I am mature enough not to pick them out of food that is served to me by someone else, but when I am in charge, I don’t use them.

When Weber and I started dating, he announced very soon in the relationship that he did not like spaghetti.  (That along with not liking chocolate chip cookies was almost a deal breaker!! lol.)  How does someone grow up not liking spaghetti?  Even my ex-husband who did not like tomatoes liked spaghetti!  This dislike became a little more concerning as our first trip together was to Italy!  I figured he was going to be eating a lot of pizza and drinking a lot of wine for the ten days that were there.  Upon further discussion, his dislike was clarified.  He does not like SPAGHETTI, as in that particular form of pasta.  He does like other kinds of pasta with sauce.  The confusion came because any shape of pasta with sauce is commonly referred to by the generic term “spaghetti.”  As it turns out, he is much less picky regarding the actual sauce used, as long as you don’t put it on spaghetti noodles, than I am.  I am happy to report that he did not starve while we were in Italy. :-)

Weber is definitely in the minority by being more particular about the form of his pasta than the characteristics of the sauce that goes on it, as is discussed by Malcolm Gladwell in this TED lecture.

I apparently am in the minority in that I do not want extra chunky spaghetti sauce!  I don’t care for “chunks” of tomato in my sauce.  I favor the ore traditional definition of sauce, “a thick liquid that is eaten with or served on food to add flavor to it.”  Liquids do not have chunks! That said, I do make a meat sauce most of the time, so I guess technically it has chunks of meat, but that is different than chunks of tomatoes!  lol.

There is nothing sacred about the recipe that I am about to share.  It is simply where I am today in the evolution of my personal taste in spaghetti sauce.  I have gotten to this place by trying different recipes, picking and choosing from them what I like and don’t like, adjusting for my own tastes and those of my family, and here I am.  Feel free to use it as a point of departure for doing the same for yourself.

INGREDIENTS

32 oz. tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste (Italian flavored adds a nice touch, but is not necessary)

3 cups water

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp red chili flakes (optional)

1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 lb. Italian sausage (either purchased ground or with casings removed)

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large green bell pepper, finely diced

Place the tomato sauce, paste, water, spices and sugar in a large pot.  Simmer on medium low for about an hour stirring occasionally.

While the sauce is simmering, in a skillet brown the ground beef and sausage.  When it is almost done, stir in the onions, peppers, and garlic.  Continue to cook until the meat is completely done and the onion is translucent.  Drain and set the meat mixture aside.

After the tomato and spices have cooked for an hour, add the meat mixture to the pot and allow to simmer uncovered, still on medium low, for another hour and thirty minutes.  

Serve over your preferred form of pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

I know that some of you are probably questioning the 1/4 cup of sugar in this recipe.  I have tried it without the sugar as well as with less.  In my opinion, the sugar is absolutely necessary to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.  This recipe makes approximately 8 one cup servings.  That means that there is 1/2 TBS of sugar in each serving, adding 70 calories.

Tracey and I were asked by several of you to show how we go about taking our food shots. Today’s process was a little different for me, but I am willing to tell it like it was.

First of all, if you read my post from earlier in the week, you saw the photo of my extremely dark kitchen, and that photo was taken in the middle of a sunny afternoon!.  The day that I shot the photos for today’s recipe, it was overcast and gray outside, making it even darker inside.  Fortunately, I have decent outdoor space in which to shoot so I took these shots outside on my back patio.  Hauling everything outside definitely is not the most convenient way to work, but you have to go where the light is. 

Usually I have an idea of how I want to arrange a shot.  My vision usually comes from how I set our table at home.  With the spaghetti shot, however, I did not have a clear image of what I wanted.  My inclination was to keep the photo true to my story here and illustrate the fact that my other half does not like spaghetti.  This was my first set-up.

I then decided to try another perspective based on how I would serve the actual meal.  I found myself in a quandary between a bowl and a plate.  My husband’s shells I would serve to him in a bowl and “real” spaghetti could be served either in a shallow bowl or on a plate.  The choice here is certainly more significant photographically than it is dining-wise. lol!  If you put the pasta in a bowl, the best angle for shooting is going to be from above.  If it is served on a plate, then there are more possible perspectives from which to shoot.

Here is the bowl shot.

Here is the plate shot.

To me, the two feel quite different from one another.  The bowl image feels much more casual, more like how meals are most days at my house.  The plate shot seems a little more formal to me for some reason, except for the brick wall in the background.  lol.

Which of the three images do you prefer, and why?  I am curious.


from Tracey G.

When Kris and I talked about doing spaghetti sauce, I had to admit I have no particular recipe. My homemade version evolved from ideas given to me by Rachel Ray and Kathleen Daelemans (another favorite Food Network chef). Rachel and Kathleen helped me out of a rut as far as sauce and realizing it only had to take as long to make as it takes to boil the water then cook the noodles. Couple cans of petite diced tomatoes, can or two of tomato sauce, some tomato paste (if you have it and want it) fresh garlic, some chopped onion, oregano or basil (or both!), some kind of alcohol (wine or vodka) if desired (it affects the flavor of tomatoes in some kind of really good way and the alcohol cooks out as the sauce simmers) and olive oil. Plus there's other additions like balsamic vinegar and red pepper flake that do wonderful things to the sauce...

So, all that said, it brought me to a panic when we discussed "a spaghetti sauce recipe" - I don't have one! I couldn't even begin to formulate mine because it's ever changing, I don't really think I do the same thing twice, it all depends on what I'm in the mood for, lol. There are basic things I do - sauté some garlic and onion (if I'm using onion) in some olive oil, add the tomatoes, sauce and any seasonings you're using then taste for corrections or additions. The end. Ah, but wait - there's one thing, Jeremy doesn't like chunks of tomatoes in his sauce. I have sort of adapted to that by using either no diced tomatoes or I'll use less because I DO like them in my sauce, and I'll try to compromise the best I can! 

 I had bought some gluten-free pasta I've wanted to try and review - so for this post, I decided to use a jarred sauce. For the jarred sauce, I branched out and tried a "new" variety for us, Mario Batali's Tomato Basil, absolutely NO preservatives whatsoever, and nothing but real fresh ingredients. Nothing chemical at all. Just tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic, carrot and if I remember correctly, sea salt. That's it. I shouldn't say "just" tomatoes though, this particular version uses San Marzano tomatoes in particular - the yummiest there is in my humble opinion, lol. And this sauce was one I was really happy with - would definitely buy it again, it's exactly what I'm looking for in my marinara sauce!

Anyway, on to the pasta... As I said, I had a box of Barilla Gluten Free spaghetti I was planning to use at some point to try and review for a post. This particular Food Friday seemed perfect for it. Now, in my story, I'm the Weber - I don't really care for traditional spaghetti noodles, but Jeremy and Harry do. I will tolerate thin spaghetti or the spaghetti rigati (with ridges). But I prefer penne or linguine or fettuccine, for the most part any shaped or different kind of pasta, lol. Harry used to love penne and would only eat that, but that's changed and now only wants spaghetti, go figure. I make sure once again we compromise so I can have the pasta I like one time and the next they get their preference!

 I was very curious as to how the gluten-free would act, after all it was made with corn flour and rice flour. Would it be like regular pasta made with wheat products in flavor? In cooking? What kind of texture would it have? I only tested and tasted this version by Barilla, and I must say I was super pleased. It was really good, the texture was just right - nothing different, just like the regular version. The cook time wasn't anything unusual, approximately 10 minutes. I did taste it plain, with no sauce or anything (I don't salt pasta water, got into that habit awhile ago, if I'm going to add salt to a dish, I'll put it where I can taste it and it not get lost in the background) and my impression was a slightly - and I mean VERY slight flavor of a yellow corn tortilla. It was so slight that after I added some olive oil to prevent sticking, I didn't taste it anymore. I should also say here that I don't normally add olive oil to my pasta after cooking - I don't want my sauce of choice to slide off! But, since I had to make sure this "kept" until Jeremy got home for dinner, so it was made about an hour and half before he'd get some so I could  get photos of it, I broke my rule and added a splash of olive oil. Which, as a side note, it even handled that well!!

Once it was sauced, there was no telling the difference that it was gluten-free as far I was concerned. I believe I told Jeremy, but not Harry and neither complained at all. Harry ate his up with not even one sideways glance - that I take as a positive!

So, all in all, at the end of this little experiment I would definitely have no reservations on using this brand of gluten-free pasta whatsoever. It was easy to cook, and easy to eat because it was yummy. The only thing I didn't care for was the fact it's not a traditional 16 ounce package, but only 12 ounces - if you want leftovers this might not provide what you're looking for. And I think next time I'd buy 2 boxes - a husband who's 6'4" and a growing son require a bit more portion-wise!! Other than that, it was hit!!!