• 5 15 oz. cans Hunts diced tomatoes in tomato sauce (if unavailable use 4 cans diced tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce)
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• ¾ teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 lb ground beef
• ½ large onion chopped

Brown ground beef and onion. Add rest of the ingredients and cook on high until comes to boil, then low, in a crock pot for at least 6 hours.

Note this recipe contains no sugar. Sugar is a "cheat" that hides the natural acidity of the tomatoes from your taste buds — this acidity permeates any tomato sauce that hasn't been cooked long enough. But with a proper amount of cooking, natural chemical reactions will neutralize the acid and so a sugar cheat is not required. The sauce will also be a lot easier to digest, as the acids are actually reduced, not just hidden from your taste buds. A couple days in the refrigerator also serve to enhance the sauce; the recipe makes enough to cover a couple of spaghetti dinners and a nice pair of meatball subs, extra large, so it generally lasts me three days.

You can also add meatballs, mushrooms, sausage, etc. to taste. But the trick is to cook them separately, and add them after cooking up the sauce. This way they strongly maintain their own identity within the amalgam... delicious.

Serve with room temperature pat(s) of real butter and top with grated Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano — please don't use that powdered gunk.)

You can serve as shown above, which is pretty, or, for a slightly different (some say better) taste, drain the pasta but don't rinse it, and add the pasta into the sauce and stir until the sauce is evenly distributed prior to serving. This incorporates the starch on the pasta into the sauce itself, and adds a silky feel many people prefer.

Store remaining sauce in refrigerator; will slowly get better for several days in a row.

Try this on day #2 or #3:

...buy a fresh loaf of Italian or French bread from your local bakery. Make some meatballs. Split the bread, optionally toast it in the oven (just a little butter will help) pour in a generous line of sauce, spot meatballs tightly down the line, pour another generous line of sauce over that, add Parmesan as above, close, and optionally slice and share, or just eat the silly thing yourself. Prepare for carbo-shock. 😊

Still have some left?

Cook some large shrimp until firm, then refrigerate until cold. Chop a small amount of horseradish and slowly add to the sauce to taste, stirring briskly until the sauce has a bite you approve of, all while still cold. Cut a couple lemon wedges, throw some crushed ice into the desert cups, pour the cold sauce onto the ice, spot the cold shrimp all around the edge, garnish with the lemon wedges, and serve. Or eat them all and lie to your guests that the cat did it!

...from Deb's kitchen.

#food #recipe #spaghetti

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