Sunday, February 14, 2010

Spaghetti & Meatballs with Simple Tomato Sauce

My son mentioned that he wants to eat spaghetti with red sauce so we had this on Tuesday night. I don't like making meatballs. We usually buy a bag from Ikea. Here's Michael Smith's recipe for meatballs. I had leftover garlic sausage so that's what I used for this recipe. The recipe that follows is for the sauce.

There's nothing more satisfying that a bowl full of spaghetti and meatballs and my gold standard tomato sauce. Every cook has an all-purpose tomato sauce up his sleeve, a perfect last-minute pasta sauce that's just as good served without meatballs.

Simple Tomato Sauce:
a splash of olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1 whole head of garlic cloves, peeled
1 28-0z (796 ml) can of whole tomatoes
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 bay leaf
a sprinkle or two of sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Begin by splashing some olive oil into a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until they just begin to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano, bay leaf and salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering for 15 minutes or so.

Puree the sauce with an immersion blender, or for a more rustic texture, mash the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Make the meatballs and cook a batch of spaghetti.

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