Sauce for Picky Eaters

Kind of a boring post today. I have a feeling this little "year in the life" blog experiment will become somewhat repetitious and boring, but I will keep at it. It's Sunday, and we almost always have some version of pasta. Other than a good steak, I could eat pasta everyday. When I was a kid, my older sister used to come home from work late at night and make a simple rigatoni with tomato sauce, covered with shredded mozzarella. She just used 2 small cans of tomato sauce seasoned with oregano, basil, and garlic salt. We loved it, and I still make it for lunch sometimes when I want comfort food, only now I add a ton of crushed red pepper flakes. It's cheap, easy, and fills you up, too bad it doesn't fit into my diet these days.


Today I will make sauce using only tomato paste...it's possible, and quite tasty. I have many recipes for sauce, from simple to complicated. My kids hate chunks in sauce, (pieces of garlic, onion, and tomato), so I came up with this a long time ago. Sometimes I take heart on picky eaters, although they might beg to differ. I only had 1 pound of ground beef thawed in the picture, but you should probably use more. I'm following the concept of using what I have these days, as two expensive car repair bills, college tuition and books have hit the budget hard since Christmas, so I must've been thinking one pound was enough this morning. I have plenty in the deep freeze, but I got busy, and forgot to take more out.



1 1/2 pounds ground beef (bought in bulk at the warehouse store)
2 pork chops (again bought in bulk, I repack and freeze 2 per pack)
6 6oz. cans tomato paste
olive oil, spices
pasta (on sale for 59cents a box!)
garlic bread using frozen Italian rolls (Amoroso's are the best here)
salad

Brown pork chops in a small amount of olive oil in a large saucepot. Remove, and brown ground beef. Remove the ground beef and strain the fat, if necessary. Turn the heat off to add the tomato paste. This next part is tricky...start adding 2 cans of water per can of paste, stir well. You can use a total of 3-5 cans of water per can of paste, in total, depending how thick/thin you like your sauce. I start out with 2, and add more water if needed. (Today I used a total of 2 1/2 cans of water per can of paste) The sauce will need to cook for a few hours to thicken. Add your favorite spices, here I used oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring this to a slow boil, then to a simmer. Return the meat to the pan, and simmer for at least 2 hours. You can leave it partially covered, or not. Just watch and stir every now and then so it doesn't stick.

As I stated before, everyone has their own little tricks, tips, and ingredients for sauce. Some people don't use green (as in spices), some don't use garlic, and some use a ton. I really enjoy finding and trying different recipes. I love sauce in any shape or form, as long as there's plenty of it and it's not burned, I'm not picky. But don't forget the locatel (Locatelli cheese)! I bought the cheese shaker the other day for $3.99 at Shop-Rite, it matches the pasta bowl, also purchased at Shop-Rite at least five years ago. I didn't realize they matched until I took the picture, they're sure to become family heirlooms some day! (I have no vested interest in SR, I prefer the commissary, but sometimes they have some quirky things)



P.S. How about the Perciatelli pasta for 59 cents a box? I haven't had that since I was a small child at my cousin's Italian grandmother's house. I usually buy Barilla, and they don't make that cut. What a treat!
Tomorrow will be more musings than food, as I'll be on the run to take college boy to visit a friend in Marlboro, then back by 4:30 to the JV game. If I'm on time, I might get a shot at the Freehold Raceway Mall. Yippee, civilization!