Spaghetti Dreams

Last night after watching a random movie on Netflix about cooking, I decided that I needed to make something exceptionally delicious. I went to the store, picked up a few things then proceeded to create the most delicious spaghetti sauce I've ever put in my mouth.

I like my spaghetti vegetarian. I do not find tomato sauce full of big chunks of meat appetizing. But that's just me. So for my recipe I have a menagerie of delicious veggies and herbs, but I feel like the ingredients are only half of what makes it yummy, the order of how you cook those ingredients is also very important.

I wasn't expecting to write a post about this as I was cooking, so I am going to try and remember everything that went into this sauce. Bear in mind that cooking is not an exact science, so I have left the amounts to be used very vague, I leave it up to you to decide how much of each veggie you want in the sauce.

I suggest using a medium to large Teflon pan to cook your sauce.

Ingredients:

Publix Brand Tomato, Mushroom & Garlic Sauce

1 Clove Garlic (fresh or pre-minced is fine)

Onion

Red Bell Pepper

Mushroom

Vine or Roma Tomato, seeded

Spinach

Garlic Powder

Penzeys Sunny Paris herb mix

Oregano

Brown Sugar

Pecorino Ramano Cheese

Olive Oil

Mince your onions and red bell pepper; make sure they are all relatively the same size so they will cook evenly.

Warm your pan on low heat. When your pan is warm add a few tablespoons of olive oil and let it heat up. When it's warm add your garlic. You can use fresh (chopped obviously) or that kind in a jar (We have some fancy tube of garlic so I used a half-inch squirt from that)-- just make sure you don't burn the garlic. If you burn it your pan was too hot and you should chuck that and start over. 

Stir the garlic into the oil for 30 seconds. This will infuse the oil with the garlic flavor. Next add onions and stir the onions and garlic for a few minutes before you add the red bell pepper, then add the bell pepper. Let these cook together for a few minutes. The onions are cooked when they are see-thru and you will see a noticeable change in the color of the bell pepper when they're cooked.

Next add your tomatos and mushrooms. These two are the most watery of the mix so you want to let the water seep out and evaporate before adding anything else. About five minutes.

Then add your spinach. You can chop it or leave it whole, it's just your preference. I chopped mine because I like small pieces. Your spinach will be cooked when it has significantly decreased in size.

At this point I lightly salt and pepper my veggies, maybe even adding a bit of Oregano and stir the veggies for two minutes more.

Now I add the sauce. The whole jar. Begin stirring the whole pan for a few minutes. At this point you may need to adjust the heat to get your sauce to simmer. Once it simmers, add a spoonful of brown sugar, lots of  Oregano, garlic powder, and if you can manage Penzeys Sunny Paris I really think this made all of the difference in my sauce!

Let your sauce simmer for at least 20 minutes, making sure to stir it well. And keep tasting, as you may want to add more herbs as you go. This is also the time to add a generous helping of the Pecorino Ramono cheese. We have a giant bag of this so I put about as much as I could grab in one handful. 

As your sauce is simmering cook your spaghetti. Don't forget to add salt to the water!

Add in your al dente pasta fresh from the water and stir in with the sauce. This is probably the one mistake I think people make when they're cooking pasta. You need to add your pasta into the sauce immediately! This helps the pasta absorb the flavor of the sauce, and then the pasta won't be gummy.

Scoop up your spaghetti on a plate, sprinkle a bit more Pecorino Ramano on the top and Bon Appetit!

I'm not joking when I say my cat was begging for some of this. It was that good. 

The ingredients listed in Penzeys' Sunny Paris are: purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, basil, tarragon, chervil, bay leaf, and dill weed. 

If you can't get your hands on anything from Penzy's maybe you can find some of these ingredients to help make your sauce magical. Bonne chance! 

http://www.penzeys.com/