I Need Simple Spaghetti Recipes!

[Angel Tarragon]

I seem to be making spaghetti once a week and topping with sauce bought at the supermarket. This is becoming quite the old dish for me lately, but it is cheap enough for us to keep in stock.

If I'm going to be making it once a week, I need different ways to jazz it up. Give me your recipes that won't take all day to prepare a spaghetti meal.

 

[Blackrat]

This goes against all the traditional cooking-rules but it works so I'll post it .

Start by browning some minced meat. Use some oil, not much but you need at least a little for the next part to work. Have a cup of water ready. When the meat is ready add a tablespoon of wheatflour and stir the mix on the pan until the flour has browned too. Now add the water and mix. Add seasonings (salt, pepper, basil, ketchup etc.) and let it boil for a while stirring gently. You should have a thick minced meat sauce.

That's my quick'n'easy bolognese sauce.

There is a proper way of doing this also, but this works for the times when you couldn't bother about doing things the hard way

 

[Dioltach]

What's hard about making a bolognese sauce? Chop an onion or two and fry up in oil and butter with some garlic. I like to add some bacon for a bit of flavour. Add your mince, a bit of pepper (probably don't need salt if you use bacon). Once your meat is brown, add whatever form of tomato you want to use: fresh, tinned, purée. I also like to throw in some finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Add enough water (or vegetable stock if you want) to turn it into a sauce. Add dried basil. Chop up a pepper and throw it in. Let it simmer for as long as you can. Perhaps 15 mins before serving, make a roux and stir it in until the sauce thickens. If you have fresh basil, bruise it and shred it and add it to the sauce a few minutes before serving.

 

[DarkKestral]

Olive oil, sage, rosemary, some good sausage (preferably without a casing), a little hard grating cheese, some plum tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. And don't forget the noodles!

Grind/chop the sausage down to small chunks, and saute them. chop up the sage, and halve the tomatoes. Warm the oil, pour it over the noodles, add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly, so the noodles and the other ingredients are just barely coated in the oil. Serve while warm. Not fancy, but it's a lot like a lot of restaurant noodle dishes, and gets you away from the traditional spaghetti with red sauce.

That said, this does require good ingredients. Don't skimp on the ingredients, you can't hide poor ingredients with a dish like this. That said, decent olive oil can be had for cheap if you use the big tin cans and one can can last a couple of months even if you're using it pretty regularly (y'know, the ones with handles and caps that come in like half-gallon sizes) and the cheese, while possibly expensive, is not used in a large quantity, as 3-6 oz is more than enough for a single meal. So if you buy a pound you still have enough for 2-4 more meals, depending on how you burn through the cheese and how many people you're feeding. (I'm from a family of 4 with a another frequent guest, and we all love our Parmesan cheese, and we still manage to get 2-4 meals out of a pound, so at 20 bucks a pound, it's still around a dollar or two per meal per person!)

It also gets you away from canned spaghetti sauce. Don't get me wrong, canned spaghetti sauces tend to be good.. but this can be made easily, and the expensive items are pantry items. It's also fairly fast, and you can add things like mushrooms or eggplant to vary the dish. (Both are filling, and are common winter ingredients) In fact, this tends to be my standard "it's winter, I'm cold, and I want noodles" dish. Common things to add for me would be pine nuts, and sauteed garlic or onions. Pine nuts are expensive, and somewhat perishable, so if you don't use them all in that dish, plan to use them some other time that week.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Simplest recipe I know - and use.
Cook spaghetti or any other noodle-derivate.
Add a small piece of butter (spoon) and sugar.

 

[Merkuri]

When I had my own apartment for a summer during college I used to make a sort of "Italian stir fry". Brown some meat (ground beef or chicken), when it's almost cooked throw in some chopped veggies (I used whatever looked good at the store, often peppers, tomatoes, and onions but sometimes stranger things like broccoli and zucchini), cook them for a few minutes and when they're almost done pour in some pasta sauce, put a pot lid on the frying pan, and let it simmer on low heat for a few minutes. When everything's nice and cooked toss it over some pasta.

This probably goes better with other pastas than spaghetti since it's very chunky, but it's the same basic idea you're asking for.

 

[Thunderfoot]

My simple marinara -

1 can petite dice tomatoes (drain first)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of tomato paste
4 Tablespoons Vodka or Rum (to thin paste)

Combine in sauce pan heat over medium flame (or low electric heat) - add any spices to taste - approximate cooking time 10 minutes.

It doesn't get much easier than that. I can whip up a spaghetti dinner for four in about 20 minutes from boil water to serve. I don't give spice measurements since everyone's tastes differ. I personally add cayenne pepper, black pepper, olive oil, garlic, onions, sage, rosemary and thyme (parsley is optional *giggle*), however, not everyone likes it to have that much heat (the alcohol intensifies the peppers). Sometimes I'll add Italian sausage or hamburger (which alters the cooking time by a few minutes). Some folks like mushrooms but I'm allergic, so... But as a base, this can't be beat.

 

[CleverNickName]

I got just the thing.

Trav's Spicy Meatballs
----------------------------
1 pound lean ground beef, pork, or turkey
12 saltine crackers, finely crushed
6 oz. tomato paste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon grated Parmesian cheese
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands until smooth and evenly blended. Shape into 2" balls.

Arrange the meatballs in a casserole dish or oven-safe skillet, making sure they do not touch (they will stick together.) Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally. When the meatballs are done (internal temperature > 160 degrees), remove them from the oven and blot them on paper towels for a few minutes.

Pile them on some hot pasta with your favorite sauce, and pour yourself a glass of red wine. Or stuff 'em in a split loaf of french bread with some provolone and marinara, and pour yourself a cold beer.

 

[Pbartender]

Pseudo al pesto:

Cook your spaghetti. Drain and return to pot.

Add a spoonful or two of olive oil. Add a bit of basil, oregano, parsley, garlic and grated parmesan cheese (all to taste). Toss noodles well, until coated with oil, herbs and cheese.



Real Al Pesto:

2 cups fresh basil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 1 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix in blender until smooth. Toss blended mixture with noodles and grated parmesan cheese.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Peanut Butter.

Cook noodles. Melt peanut butter in microwave (or whatever). Mix.

Cheap fake Thai.

(Well, it works for my two kids that don't like tomato sauces.)