the ultimatest spaghetti sauce

this is pretty much my mom’s recipe for a red meat sauce. I’ve tweaked it to my tastes, as you should too. I find it’s best on whole wheat pasta, though it’s good on the regular stuff too. Serve it with a nice green salad and garlic bread (see recipe below) and lots of parmesan. It freezes well, so don’t be afraid to make a big batch.

on the ready:
2 tbsp butter
a couple glugs of vegetable oil
1 pack (I guess that’s somewhere near 1-1 1/2 lb.s) ground pork (or beef)
1 medium sized onion, diced fine
2-3 celery stalks, diced fine
6-8 mushrooms, chopped however you like
4 cloves of garlic, minced
cracked black pepper
1 tbsp beef paste (rather than salt)
2 jars of regular ragu
water
2 bay leaves
1 tin tomato paste
1 firm shiny eggplant, cut however you like (don’t omit this, even if you don’t like eggplant, cut it into big chunks so you can pick it out)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp each of italian seasoning, oregano, basil

. pick out your favourite big honkin’ pot and get him hot on low-medium heat. add the oil and butter
. when the butter has melted, add the onion, celery, mushrooms, garlic, pepper, and beef paste. get all this soft and glisteny, but don’t let it get brown

. when the veg is soft, add the pork. get it nice and browned off
. dump in the two jars of ragu. rinse them out with water you can then pour into the sauce mix so you don’t lose any flavour along the way. make sure to fill both jars to the top. depending on how thick or thin you like your sauce, you may need to add more water than the two jars full. keep in mind a good deal of water will evaporate through the next two hours of simmering
. add the bay leaves and turn the heat down to low. simmer uncovered for two hours, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot every 25 minutes or so

. add the tin of tomato paste, eggplant, sugar, and herbs. stir, and allow to simmer for another 40 minutes. you may want to add a bit more water to compensate for the thickening action of the tomato paste… your call, really.

and so, WHAM, best red meat sauce ever! and even better two days later! serve with super awesome garlic bread that’s simple and fast.

garlic bread is soooo tasty and super easy to make. get yourself some

1/3 C butter (don’t you dare use margarine)
small handful of freshly chopped parsley
6 cloves of garlic, minced
big ol’ loaf of french or italian bread

. mix the garlic, butter and parsley together in bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for at least an hour before using
. put a frying pan on almost medium heat and make sure it’s hot enough to instantly evaporate a drop of water
. carve the bread into 2 inch sliced rounds, and then cut those in half so you end up with a bunch of semicircles
. spread on the butter, but don’t go crazy with it because it’ll just melt off if you get it too thick
fry these little wedges of golden happiness in the pan, butter side down for just a couple minutes. until they’re a light golden brown. do take care not to burn them as it can happen easily with garlic

there you are; garlic bread that’s crispy, buttery, dippable, and fast!

BREAKFAST SALAD – feb fifth fenty felve

this morning I stumbled upon something so obvious, but so, so good:

BREAKFAST SALAD

I turned this

(which is good as is, but please, try this take on it)

. chop two massive (or more smaller) potatoes into chunks roughly the size of hubbabubba squares.
. get them in a big pot of slated water and boil ’em until tender but not falling apart – we’re not mashing these.
. while the toes are wubbling away, get a big frying pan on medium high heat. when it’s hot enough to instantly steam a drop of water, throw down some thick cut, streaky bacon.
. season with garlic powder, paprika, and pepper. the bacon will be best if you only flip it once (something me ma showed me). when the bacon is at your desired floppy or crispy goodness, drain on paper towel and set aside, but SAVE the grease in the pan.
. when the potatoes are finished, drain them in a colander. allow the heat inside them to evaporate the residual water, then carefully slide them into the hot bacon grease in the pan. You may need or want to add some additional bacon drippings, or butter, or oil because we basically want to do a very hot and quick fry on these suckers. stir as needed, you know, to get good gold coverage.
.while everything is getting hot and bubbly, finely chop half an onion and a small handfull of fresh parsley.
. also get yet another frying pan, smaller this time, on another burner and on a medium heat, let it get nice and hot.
. thinly slice some tomato into those gorgeous jeweled discs, and then again in gummybear-sized pieces.
. when the soon-to-be hasbrowns are almost at that lovely golden fried state, throw the onions in along with a bit of salt and the same seasonings that went on the bacon.
. of course, you’re really on the ball and excited to eat, so you’ve also got a carafe of coffee on the go, perfectly timed to be poured just after you serve breakfast. (I reccommend ethical bean – classic roast… it’s like chocolate cake)
. crack one or two or five eggs into the smaller, super hot pan atop some butter. quickly crack pepper on them and put a lid on the whole deal.
. have a small amount of water on hand and near the stove.
. chuck the parsley in the potatoes, stir and turn off the heat.
. drop about a teaspoon’s worth of that water in the eggs frying and get the lid on quick. the steam will cook the tops of the eggs but in a way that you can still get that gooey yolk happening. don’t leave them long… the hot hot pan should cook them in under two or three minutes. (miss mia taught me this, and I’m forever in egg-debt to her)
. drain the potatoes in a colander inside a bowl or on paper towel.
. get them eggs out of the pan and onto two plates. dump on some of the now drained hashbrowns, the tomato gems, and crumble the bacon on top of that.
. pour the coffee.
. grab your favourite breakfast salsa, ketchup, hot sauce, whatever.
. cut up the eggs beneath all the other goodness and mix it about in a glorious messy fashion until most of the bits have coated each other.
stuff your eager, drooling face with it.

for a nice breaky for two you will need:
2-4 good sized potatoes
6 rashers streaky bacon
bacon grease
butter – for frying
2-5 eggs (free run and organic is always best)
garlic powder
paprika
fresh cracked pepper
salt
1/2 an onion
fresh parsley (it really does make a difference)
1 tomato

* if one were to be so bold, so hardcore, so good with multitasking,  as to make and add hollandaise to this…
one may kersplode at the table.