I make this with pasta sauce from the store. There are a few brands that I like well enough to use on their own if I’m in a hurry or at a cottage and don’t want to spend my vacation time chopping and stirring. You will notice that I’ve included some vegetables as optional. My grandchildren will eat the sauce with them added, but other relatives won’t…you know who you are! At home, we use ground turkey. Some of my relatives ask for beef and a few prefer meatballs. That’s a whole other thing.
PASTA SAUCE
This recipe can be made vegan by leaving out the meat and using vegetable stock or water, or made into a side dish by leaving out the ground meat.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 cup sweet onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef or turkey, low fat is ok browned
- (ground beef can be made into meat balls, recipe is separate)
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried fennel seeds optional
- 1 jar (700 ml) spicy pasta sauce check that there is no sugar added or make your own
- 1 cup beef stock chicken or vegetable stock or water will also work
- 1 cup kale optional
- 1 cup zucchini optional
- Red pepper flakes to taste, if you’re not using a spicy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat skillet and coat with olive oil. I usually spray the pan. Sauté onion until clear (but not brown); add garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add kale and zucchini, if you dare!
- Add ground meat and brown, breaking meat up and mixing with onions and garlic. Add chopped herbs and fennel seeds (if using them). Sauté for 1-2 minutes to blend with meat.
- Transfer to sauce pan; add pasta sauce. Stir in sautéed ingredients; add stock. Bring to boil over high heat. Lower heat, cover and simmer for at least ½ hour, stirring occasionally. (You will want to cover while the sauce is cooking to avoid splatter.)
- Taste and add salt if needed. Most prepared pasta sauces have a lot of sodium, so it may not need any added. Add freshly ground pepper, if desired.
Notes
Tomatoes are technically a fruit, but in 1893 the US Supreme Court ruled that they are a vegetable for purposes customs regulations (Nix vs Hedden, if you must know. And it was a unanimous decision.). So, all sauces will list some sugar in the “nutrition facts” section of the label. Check to make sure the sauce doesn’t have added sugar as part of the ingredient list.
My favorite spicy sauces from the store are Marinelli’s Spicy Peperoncini Arrabbiata and Pasta Tavola Rustic’s Siciliana Sauce (relatively low in sodium, if you can find it). My favorite non-spicy sauce is Whole Foods 365 Tomato and Basil sauce, fat free, and it’s relatively inexpensive. I’ve used quite a few brands, but I always check for added sugar. Most of the well-known brands contain it, along with other ingredients I don’t eat (vinegar, citric acid, mushrooms). Caveat emptor.
So looking forward to trying this pasta sauce recipe…sounds so delicious and healthy!