Happy Halloween and a happy birthday to my father, Sam. Today, I am pleased to present one of his original creations, a historical recipe from his younger days. In the late 1970s, he was working in his first job out of college. His colleague, Dan, asked if he had a spaghetti sauce recipe, and he came up with something on the fly, and likely forgot all about it. Soon after, both he and Dan had moved on from the company. Decades later, they reconnected, and he learned that "Sam's spaghetti," as it was now known, had become a beloved family tradition. To this day, Dan's (now adult) sons still ask for it.
The sauce itself is quite thick, and a deep red. Using tomato paste is an interesting choice, and gives the sauce a real intensity compared with my usual sauces with crushed tomato as a base (see beef ragù and fettuccine in tomato sauce). This sauce is certainly of the "old school" of Italian-American cookery, but continues to be delicious nearly forty years after its inception.
This version is slightly edited from the one provided by Dan. The original uses "3 mushrooms," but I brought this up a little to use an 8 oz. package. I used my own mixture of herbs rather than the recommended Italian seasoning, which I do not have. Finally, it can be useful to save a little pasta water to thin the sauce to your desired consistency.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 12 oz. tomato paste (1 large can)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooked pasta (reserve some of the cooking water)
Instructions
In a large saute pan, heat a bit of olive oil on medium high heat. Add onions and mushrooms and cook until softened. Remove from pan and set aside.
Season the beef with salt and pepper. Add to the pan with the garlic. Add more oil if needed. Turn heat up to high and cook until the beef is browned. Deglaze the pan with wine. Add tomato paste, water, and herbs. Return the mushrooms and onion to the pan. Mix well and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. This will be just enough time to prepare the pasta. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired. If the sauce is too thick, mix in a splash of the pasta water. Serve with grated parmesan.
Thanks, Sebastian. This was a great birthday present. I do remember giving Dan this recipe, probably from memory of what I was doing at the time. This was the late 70's just before authentic Italian food first came onto the American dining scene. We traveled to Italy for the first time in 1983 and became acquainted with that modern Italians ate. The red sauce cuisine is an authentic immigrant cuisine, combining the tomato sauces of their southern Italian heritage and the availability of cheaper meat in America. I also remember that Dan's wife, Shirley, thought the garlic was excessive. However, it does cook off and it would not be excessive. The denser sauce was what I was shooting for to handle the volume of noodles. My subsequent treatment is a lighter sauce. You also remember that I began to add olives which was something you and Simone loved. Dan was instrumental in hiring me for my first professional position. As you know, one's first job leads to other positions and that is how a professional person is launched. I have also felt indebted to Dan for helping me career wise. Having this serendipitous recipe becoming sort of a family tradition is more than flattering. This speaks volumes about the magic of childhood memories and family traditions. Heart warming to say the least. Not everyone is lucky enough to have good childhood memories.
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