Spaghetti With Hearty Meat Sauce

Hi, loves! Abbye, here.

If I ask my son what he wants for dinner, he says this every time. He would say this 7 nights a week if he thought I would be ok with it… and if I’m honest with myself and with you, I probably AM ok with it. I love pasta – especially with a good hearty sauce all smothered into it.

This sauce is warm and cozy in all the right ways. It has depth of flavor from using a two different meats and some good parmesan and the right herbs (and maybe a splash of wine if you happen to have some open already). And then you douse it with shaved parmesan because THAT’S WHAT WE DO AROUND HERE, don’t bug me about it.

Let’s talk about what makes a good sauce because everyone’s grandma has their opinion on the matter. Just beef? Add some pork? Maybe some lamb or bison? (now we are just talking craziness…) The basics are this: start with yellow onion, diced. Add some garlic, minced. Then dump in some ground beef and ground pork or lamb, the good stuff. Then comes that splash of wine if you happen to be drinking while cooking. Then some canned tomatoes, crushed or diced or whole smashed with your hands, fire roasted if you’re feeling it.

Then add your spice. I do a handful of italian seasoning, some crushed red pepper, a spoon full of honey and a generous addition of kosher salt. Taste taste taste and adjust until your skirts fly up. They should fly up if you’ve done it right.

Your pasta should be good quality and cooked in heavily salted water just until al dente. Don’t serve mushy pasta, loves. And here’s my trick for keeping the noodles from sticking together – when you strain them, immediately add one ladle full of sauce and stir stir stir. It will coat the pasta just enough to keep it slippery but not enough to feel “sauced”. My family likes to add their own sauce and I let them because I’m that kind of mom sometimes.

Oh and then the parmesan! Grate it all over like we discussed and don’t cheat yourself out of it.

Thanks for stopping by – I’m sure glad you did! Be sure to post a picture and tag us on the socials when you do, it would mean the world…

As always, the gorgeous pictures are from the one and only Matt Ray.

xoxo Abbye

Spaghetti with Hearty Meat Sauce