Posted by Emily  Print Recipe

I am all about comfort food. What I love even more is food that is dead simple to make and that stores easily. That’s probably why spaghetti is my all time favorite dish. Judging from how many brands of spaghetti sauce there are at the grocery store, I would venture to say that not many people make their own sauce anymore. This was one of my mom’s staple recipes and I don’t think I ever saw her use sauce from a jar her entire life. This was the first recipe I asked for when I moved into my own apartment during college and I’ve been making it ever since. I’ve tried jar sauces before, but I always wind up feeling like I’ve let my mom down. Plus none of them taste even one fifth as good as homemade.

Usually I make up a big batch in the early afternoon and just let it sit on the stove and simmer until I’m ready to start cooking the pasta. After dinner I store it in the fridge and heat it up for leftovers all week long. On spaghetti weeks I almost always wind up making other dishes with it, like baked spaghetti, ravioli or lasagna. I love being able to make something up at the beginning of the week and get several dinners out it!

Pam’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb. thawed ground round beef or ground turkey (optional if you’re not into meat)
2. 2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
3. 2 6 oz. cans tomato paste
4. water
5. 1 package McCormick spaghetti sauce packet or 2-3 tbsp. corn starch*
6. 1 tbsp. oregano
7. 1 tbsp. chopped basil
8. 1 bay leaf (don’t eat this)
9. 2 cloves garlic, minced or 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
10. 1 medium onion, chopped or 1/2 tsp. onion salt
11. Salt and pepper, to taste (usually just a dash will do)

The Process:

1. Brown beef in a skillet and drain the grease.

2. In a large pot, combine tomato sauce, tomato paste and the equivalent amount of water (fill up the cans with water after you empty them). Add in sauce packet or corn starch, herbs, onion and garlic. Stir in the cooked meat. Stir well. Bring to boil.

3. Turn to low heat and let simmer for at least an hour (the longer the better).

This sauce doubles really well. You can also have fun with it and make it your own, adding in other herbs and things like mushrooms (which I HATE, but I know others love), red wine and whatever else you want in there.

* Using the packet, you get a pretty thick sauce (which is how I like it). Using corn starch, I didn’t think it was thick enough and wound up adding another can of tomato paste. If you like thinner sauce, then try halving the amount of corn starch/mix and tomato paste. It does thicken after cooking, but it never gets that much thicker than it is initially, so you can just add a can of paste and a tablespoon of corn starch at a time until it gets to a thickness you like.

[rating:4.5]