Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

For this post, A Wicked Scoff is going old school, featuring a recipe for one of, is not my all-time favorite, meals. This recipe for spaghetti and meat sauce is simple, easy to prepare and ever so tasty. The ingredients relys mostly on the pantry and things you are likely to have on hand, and it comes together in no time. The kicker to the whole thing is the addition of a half bottle of chili sauce. It makes the dish. In fact it is one of the first dishes I started to cook back in my teens, although it always tasted better when Mom cooked it. I often requested "homemade spaghetti" for birthday suppers, and during hockey season it was a must have before all big games.

The recipe is somewhat of a family favorite and actually came to my mother by way of my Aunt Lynn, and if I'm not mistaken, the recipe is one of Aunt Lynn's mother's, Mrs. Baker (whose name appears numerous times in Mom's scrapbook cookbook). Aunt Lynn often had a meal of spaghetti and meat sauce, cheesy garlic bread and a raspberry cheesecake waiting for us when we made our annual family vacation down to Botwood, Newfoundland each summer. It's hard to say what I looked forward to more, the days of trouting with my uncle, or the homemade spaghetti and cake.

Meat Sauce (6 servings, easy to double)

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can mushrooms
1 can tomato soup
1 small can tomato paste
1 small (7 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 bottle chili sauce
a few shakes of Tobasco
1/4 teaspoon each celery salt, garlic salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

In a deep saute pan or dutch oven (or similar) saute and brown the beef, and then add the chopped onion. Cook until onion is translucent.

Add the mushrooms, and all remaining ingredients. Mix well, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 1 hour. Serve over cooked spaghetti and top with Parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic bread. It doesn't get any easier than that.

Feel free to expand on this "mother sauce" and incorporate other ingredients. This is what I used to do when I started cooking. Adding fresh garlic, other vegetables such as green bell pepper or fresh mushrooms will work great. So will additions of dried or fresh Italian herbs, a splash of red wine, some plum tomatoes, etc. You get the idea. The key to this recipe is the combination of the tomato products, especially the chili sauce. I encourage you to try the recipe as listed above first. Sometimes you can't beat a classic.