Abercrombie & Feast

I think your New Years resolution should be to improve your spaghetti sauce. 

Think about it.  This makes WAY more sense than starting a diet that you are going to quit on January 23, which will make you feel bad about yourself.  It also makes more sense than vowing to improve your French or Spanish, which means you’ll spend a lot of money on those CD’s you listen to in your car, but you’ll get bored on your drive to the grocery store on Feb 11, switch the language discs for the newest Jay-Z CD and you’ll never put los discos back into rotation. 

But, improving your spaghetti sauce is the perfect New Years resolution.  It will enhance your life in a number of ways; such as:

1.  You will be more popular… everyone loves spaghetti sauce. 
2.  You will be happier… because YOU love spaghetti sauce.
3.  You will eat more tomatoes, which may help you avoid cancer.
4.  You will feel a sense of achievement for having kept a New Years resolution for the first time ever (or is that just me?)

So, if you do choose to make this your resolution, I ask that you let me be your guide. 

Spaghetti sauce (or spaghetti bolognaise- spag bog- in England) is one of my very favourite comfort foods.  I have refined my recipe over the past few years and have learned, through trial and error, several little tricks that make a huge difference. 

You can apply these tips to whatever recipe you currently use to make your spaghetti sauce even better!  Ring in the new decade with spaghetti!

1.  Add some carrots
Tomatoes can be very acidic, so some people add sugar to their sauce to balance this.  However, I think carrots work even better.  Carrots are high in natural sugars, so you get the same effect whilst adding a vegetable and losing the extra sugar.  Cut one medium carrot up into a very fine dice and add it in when you brown your onion at the beginning. 

2.  Don’t add water!
I know that a lot of people add a can of chopped tomatoes, then fill the can with water to “rinse out the bits left in the can” and pour that into the pot.  Don’t do that!  Water doesn’t add any flavour and you don’t want to add anything that doesn’t have flavour.  Instead, add beef stock or red wine.  They will increase the liquid amount AND the flavour. 

3.  Use a mix of meats.
Don’t just use ground beef, that’s boring!  Mix it up and add a few different meats.  This will make your sauce more flavourful and complex.  I usually use lean ground beef, ground pork and a few Italian sausages removed from their casings. 

4.  Dried herbs are best. 
I am usually a big fan of fresh herbs, but for spaghetti and meat sauce, dried is best.  This is because dried herbs are stronger.  You won’t need as much and you can adjust as needed.  I usually use dried basil and dried oregano.  I’m sure this isn’t traditional, but it tastes great to me!

5.  Brown your meatballs first.
If you’re making meatballs, you want to use them to add flavour to the sauce.  You also want them to taste good.  This is why it’s important to brown your meatballs in a frying pan first.  You’ll get those delicious brown bits on the meatballs, which will add flavour to the sauce.  Once the meatballs are browned on 2 sides (don’t cook them all the way through!), you can add them to the sauce, where they will finish cooking, flavour the sauce and get soft and delicious.