Forsyth's Easy Spaghetti
This recipe was created for a little girl that does not like onions. It is very easy to make and can be easily changed to your own taste. This has no added salt; it gets its salt from the ingredients.
This recipe was created for a little girl that does not like onions. It is very easy to make and can be easily changed to your own taste. This has no added salt; it gets its salt from the ingredients.
- 1 lb ground beef (premium and lean)
- 1 pint or 1/2 ltr sieved tomatoes (pessata)
- 2 table spoons onion gravy (bisto's best for roasts)
- 2 table spoons pesto sauce (adds the salt)
- 1 table spoon basil - dried or fresh is better.
- 1 pinch black pepper (five twists on the grounder)
- 3 sliced finely spicy sausage or chorizo - optional, it adds a little spice
- 1 table spoon tomato concentrate (a big squirt)
- 1 knob butter (or olive oil would do)
- 3 table spoons parmesan cheese - grate this fresh.
- 300 grams spaghetti (about 100gms each)
- Carbohydrate 74.7142033333333 g
- Cholesterol 307.779518333333 mg
- Fat 107.661248333333 g
- Fiber 3.20883338101705 g
- Protein 61.021255008 g
- Saturated Fat 48.2960017331333 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (440g)
- Sodium 212.762591933333 mg
- Sugar 71.5053699523163 g
- Trans Fat 21.8993159793333 g
- Calories 1527 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat a medium pot on a low heat. This is apoximately number two on the electric hob or just past the first notch on the gas. Let the butter melt (or the olive oil heat up, either one.)
- Put in your ground beef (plus the spicy sausage) and cook till brown. Stir it a few times and let the fats break down into a liquid.
- This should take about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Increase the heat a little till you can hear the meat start to sizzle, a medium heat.
- Now add the pesto sauce with the basil and mix into the meat. Put in the onion gravy with the black pepper and mix until the beef starts to ticken up and look a bit sticky.
- Squeeze in the tomatoe concentrate and mix a bit. Cut open the pessata (sieved tomatoes) container and pour in the whole container. The meat sizzle sound will stop, turn down the heat to low.
- Let the whole mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. You want the meat to absorb as much juice and flavour as possible.
- Leave the sauce to cool a little and either add it to the cooked spaghetti or put the cooked pasta onto the (heated) plate and dollop the sauce onto it. I won't tell you how to cook spaghetti, just follow the packet. Just make sure it is well drained.
- I like to put a few shavings of parmesan into the sauce and let it melt and grate a bit onto the spaghetti when it's on the plate.
Ingredient lists rarely explain how scaling impacts moisture levels during a prolonged simmer. When doubling ground beef quantities from one pound to two, the pan surface area must expand proportionally. Crowding lean beef in a standard ten-inch skillet traps water rather than allowing it to evaporate. Brown the meat in two separate batches if necessary to maintain direct contact with the hot metal. This ensures the 8 to 10 minute initial browning phase achieves proper Maillard browning rather than premature steaming. Adjusting this recipe also requires caution regarding salt content. The formulation relies entirely on sodium present within the pesto and processed gravies rather than added table salt. Doubling prepared condiments directly increases the sodium concentration per serving significantly beyond standard dietary proportions. Maintaining balance when altering quantities means tasting the sauce after the 20-minute simmer concludes, just before tossing with pasta. Substituting passata with standard canned crushed tomatoes introduces excess water. Excess liquid demands an extended reduction time over low heat to prevent a watery final dish. Fresh herbs require a different ratio than dried equivalents due to potency differences. Use three tablespoons of fresh basil if substituting for the single tablespoon of dried herb indicated in the initial instructions. Properly drained spaghetti benefits from immediate plating. Tossing hot pasta directly into the warm sauce pan allows the starch clinging to the strands to bind the meat and liquid efficiently. Grating fresh parmesan over the plated meal adds fat and umami that counters the acidity of the sieved tomatoes without requiring additional sodium.
