Two Pasta Sauces For The Birthday Boy

For Ford’s birthday dinner he asked for me to make two sauces – a meaty red sauce and white clam sauce. I worked with new recipes/ideas and without slobbering all over myself I loved both of the sauces. They both had incredible aroma and flavor 🙂 They made a ton of sauce too…oops! So lots of leftovers. Totally sad, eh? 😉

Friends of ours Dad has a farm and raises cows. On the few times we do eat beef we have stashed in the deep freezer some extremely lean beef from his very naturally raised cattle (truly free range!).

Meaty Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp garlic, diced (jarred is OK)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp granulated sugar
• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 2 16 ounce cans tomato sauce
• 2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• Salt to taste

Directions:

In a large deep skillet heat the oil over medium heat, add in the beef, onion, mushrooms and garlic, cook until the meat is fully cooked. Sprinkle the dry seasonings on in the last-minute or two and stir in.

Add the tomatoes and vinegar, stir well.

Cover tightly, turn to medium-low and let simmer gently for 1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning, add salt as desired.

This makes a lot of sauce, it will richly cover a lb or more of freshly cooked spaghetti.

Walker enjoying dinner –

White Clam Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp butter
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (jarred is OK)
• 2 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1½ tsp dried marjoram
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• 2 6½ ounce cans minced clams, undrained
• 8 ounce jar clam juice
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (1 small lemon)
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 lb hot cooked spaghetti
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a large skillet heat over medium heat. Add in the butter and oil, then the garlic and cook for one minute. Whisk in the flour and herbs, let cook for a couple of minutes.

Whisk in the remaining ingredients, let heat through to bubbling, whisking often.

Take off the heat, toss with the hot pasta and plate up quickly. Add cheese as desired.

Serves 4.

~Sarah