Yeah I know, it’s been done to death in the “blogosphere” and in cookbooks and by your Mom and your Grandma. But, when you’re hungry or have hungry kids and you want a quick “sit-down” dinner that’s filling and good, there’s nothing better than good old fashioned Spaghetti and Meat Sauce.
Am I wrong? Am I full of it? Wait a second, don’t answer either of those questions because I know exactly how “Mrs. CB” would answer them. But, speaking of Mrs. CB, she probably requests “Sketti” more often than another dinner—I’d say 2 times every 3 weeks. And I always keep the “fixings” on hand.
And that’s what we do. Mrs. CB typically makes a couple of salads. I cook up the rest and we’ve got Family Sketti Night in a half hour.
I didn’t do it with this meal, but there’s something to be said for the classic preparation of using a big skillet or sauté pan for your meat sauce and then dumping the cooked pasta in it and mixing everything together thoroughly so that the sauce and pasta marry—or like I did with this meal using rigatoni so the meat sauce can get inside the hollow pasta.
Recipe: Family Sketti Night
Summary: There’s nothing that brings the whole family to the table better than spaghetti and meat sauce. It’s easy, cheap and half-hour quick.
Ingredients
- 1 lb 85% lean ground beef
- 1 can/jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
- 1 lb dry pasta
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic powder
- Cumin
- Fennel seed
- Crushed Red Chili Flakes
Instructions
- Get out a sauté pan and put it on the store set to medium high.
- Take out your pasta pot and add about a half gallon of water. Put it on the stove on high.
- When the sauté pan is hot add the meat. Let it start to brown then mix it up and break it up so that it crumbles. (You want to brown it rather than steam it.)
- Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin and fennel seed to taste. Taste it! Then let it cook a bit more and taste it again and then adjust your seasoning if necessary.
- Turn the heat down to low and add the jar/can of sauce and stir well. Then taste and adjust seasoning. Add a few shakes ofr the red chili flakes.
- When pasta water boils, add your pasta. Cook it until it’s just al dente—about 8 minutes. Then drain. (You can either add the drained pasta to the sauce and meat mix or plate from the pot of pasta topping it with meat sauce).
- You’re ready to eat! And all in a half hour.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 25 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
My rating 5 stars: ★★★★★ 1 review(s)
Family Spaghetti Night in a Half Hour is simple, easy and good. It’ll stick to your ribs. Oh, and by the way, do you like garlic bread? Ever had a jones for spaghetti and didn’t have any bread? Do you have any hot dog buns or even hamburger buns? Just break them apart, coat them with margarine or butter, add a bit of garlic and salt and pop into the oven for a few minutes. (Actually I set the oven to 400, put the bread in and as soon as the oven comes to temperature, I turn it off to remove the “garlic bread”). Last but not least if you want to add some sauteed onions or peppers to the meat and sauce mix, go ahead. It’ll add flavor and texture.
The Cheap Bastid Test: This is as cheap as it’s good! The meat costs about $2. The pasta about $1 and I use canned Hunt’s spaghetti sauce that I buy for $1. $4 easily feeds a family of 4! That beats the $40 you’d spend at the “Spaghetti Factory” or “Olive Garden” for the same meal.
And yes, this may be so simple as to be totally obvious. But sometimes the more simple the better.
That’s the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!
Wonderful blog and the food looks great. Those herbs added at the end are the secret.
Thanks Suzanne–even “cheap” cooking benefits from some herbs and spices–and they’re really pretty inexpensive.
My favorite way of making spaghetti! I usually chop an onion to cook along with the ground beef, and, after draining the excess fat and adding a can of spaghetti sauce, I add a can of diced tomatoes with their juice. I’ve also been known to add mushrooms, green peppers, and/or chopped and drained pimiento-stuffed green olives to the sauce, all depending on what I have on hand.
Chuck–thanks. Personally, I’m with you in adding things like peppers and onions and celery, etc. But when time’s an issue, you can just throw it all together in a few minutes. Surprisingly, there are still a lot of people who seem to have an aversion to chopping up some fresh ingredients to saute with the meat.
I love this blog. Great recipes and I have not heard sketti in years. Keep up the great work.