Not Your Grandmas Spaghetti Recipes

GREAT GRANDMA'S HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Brown meat and Italian sausage (break it up as you stir it. You may want to heat up a little olive oil (about 2 minutes) before adding the meat...)
• Add chopped onions to the meat mixture and continue cooking. Stir occasionally until onions are softened.
• Next, add your diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce.
• Next, mix in the spices, sugar, and garlic.
• Once your sauce is cooking (bring to a boil), add your wine and water.
• Simmer on low (stir often) for an hour.
• Optional: Let it simmer for an additional 3-4 hours, just to let the flavors combine even more.

GRANDMA MAGGIO'S SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, and cook and stir the onion and garlic until translucent but not browned, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and basil, and cook and stir until the basil is wilted and the mushrooms are cooked through and have given up their juices, about 10 minutes.
• Pour in the whole peeled tomatoes, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring and chopping the tomatoes into pieces with a spoon. Pour in the tomato sauce and stir, crushing any large pieces of tomato left, and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce simmer until slightly thickened and bubbling, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
• Stir the tomato paste into the sauce, and fill the empty tomato paste can with Merlot wine, stirring to dissolve any remaining tomato paste in the can. Pour the Merlot wine into the sauce, and stir well to combine. Bring the sauce back to a simmer, and stir in the salt, pepper, dried oregano, and sugar. Let the sauce simmer until the seasonings are blended and the sauce is heated through, about 3 more minutes.

GRANDMA'S SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Cook and stir ground beef and onion in a large pot until beef is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain excess grease.
• Pour tomato sauce and tomato paste into the pot; season with pepper. Stir in tomato puree and ketchup. Add brown sugar, mustard, celery salt, onion salt, and garlic salt, stirring after each addition.
• Simmer sauce over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until flavors combine, 30 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle in Parmesan cheese during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

GRANDMA'S NOT-SO-SECRET SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• In a large soup pot, saute the burger crumbles, garlic, onion, green pepper and mushrooms in a bit of oil until vegetables are soft.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a low boil, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours stirring often.

NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• FOR THE CAKE:.
• Heat oven to 350°F.
• In a medium pot, cook the dried fruits, bourbon and orange juice just until the fruits are plump - about four to five minutes. There will be some liquid left.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. On low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add the orange juice bourbon and fruit mixture. Stir to combine.
• Pour batter into a bundt pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool.
• When cake is completely cooled, seal in an airtight container. Every two to three days, feel the cake and if dry, brush with more bourbon. Continue to baste for two weeks for maximum flavor, or eat whenever you want.
• FOR THE GLAZE:.
• Mix all glaze ingredients together and drizzle over the top of the cake.
• OPTIONAL:.
• Feel Free to use any and all dried fruits in this: chopped dried peaches, dried apples, dried pears, dates - if it's dried, it will work!
• For a chocolatey twist, add ¾ cup chopped semisweet chocolate to the batter.
• Get nutty: add pecans or hazelnuts to the batter or the top of the cake for a nutty, crunchy variation.
• Garnish the top of the cake in festive holiday style. Dried fruit slices, cinnamon sticks, red and green cherries are all seasonally appropriate.
• Traditionally, fruitcake is boozy, but feel free to use apple cider in place of the bourbon.
• I like to use a bundt pan for this but you can use a loaf pan, a 9-inch cake pan or even make fruit cake cupcakes!

MY GRANDMOTHER'S SPAGHETTI

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Add ground beef and cook until brown, breaking up with fork, about 8 minutes. Drain drippings from Dutch oven. Mix parsley, bay leaves and basil into beef and cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, water, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Simmer until reduced to sauce consistency, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, about 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm sauce over medium-low heat before using.)
• Cook spaghetti in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well. Place spaghetti in serving bowl. Pour half of sauce over. Serve immediately, passing Parmesan cheese separately. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining sauce for another use.)