Italian Spaghetti

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Bolognese sauce with garlic, plus ground beef (optional), mushrooms, and broccoli. Lots of work and worth it! It takes about 2 hours. With meat or vegetarian. Serves 4-6 people.

INGREDIENTS

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*  Note: It's important to get ground beef at the butcher because the supermarket version is fake and tasteless and full of industrial debris and chemicals ("pink slime"). Besides, we want lean beef; ask them to grind some round steak.

FOR THE SAUCE

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*  Note: It is imperative that the can of tomatoes says San Marzano , and "Product of Italy", and "DOP" and / or "Pomodoro San Marzano Dell'agro Sarnese-Nocerino". It is a very special type of tomato with a unique flavor. The brand I use is Cento but there are others.

IMPLEMENTS

STEPS

  1. Put a strainer over a large bowl and pour the contents of the 3 cans of tomatoes (see photo), so that the liquid drains into the bowl.
  2. Put a large pot on the fire with about 2 gallons of water with a little salt.
  3. Chop (or crush in pestle) 12 garlic cloves. Peel 6 others but leave them whole.
  4. Chop the parsley leaves and basil.
  5. Optional: Put the meat in a large bowl and add half of the chopped-or-mashed garlic, add salt and pepper and knead together. Let it sit for a while while the flavors percolate.
  6. Cut several cloves of garlic into thin slices; sauté the mushrooms in olive oil over high heat with salt and pepper. At the last moment add the garlic slices for only several seconds (burnt garlic smells and tastes awful!). For an extra-rich flavor, (optional) pour some white wine. When finished, dump into another bowl.
  7. Cut the broccoli into pieces and sauté for a few minutes in olive oil with salt and pepper. Add thd desired amount of garlic, stir for a few seconds, then add some liquid (chicken broth and/or white wine and/or water) and cover, let cook a little until it is no longer hard, but also not too soft. Turn off the heat.
  8. Optional: Sautée the meat over high heat, breaking it into pieces with the wooden spatula. It is not necessary to cook it completely, because it will cook again in the sauce. Turn off the heat when it is still a little pink.
  9. Put some olive oil into a large pot or frying pan with high sides, over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the rest of the chopped or mashed garlic and sautée for 30 seconds, no more.
  10. Add the chopped basil and parsley, salt, and pepper, sautée for 3 seconds, then add the strained tomatoes.
  11. Turn up the heat and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with the wooden spatula, until it starts boiling.
  12. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring with the wooden spoon. Meanwhile, wash the sieve and leave it in the sink, alone.
  13. Pour the liquid that drained from the tomatoes into the sauce. Bring the to a boil and boil for 12 minutes, until the sauce reaches the desired thickness, stirring and/or scraping the bottom occasionally.
  14. Dump the pasta into the boiling water and add some olive oil. Let it boil 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  15. Reheat the broccoli for serving.
  16. Add the chopped beef (optional) and mushrooms to the sauce, mixing well while the the pasta boils.
  17. After 6-7 minutes, pour the pasta pot into the strainer and allow all the water to drain.

Put the pasta in a large bowl and the sauce in another so people can serve themselves as they wish. Serve with the broccoli (removing and discarding the garlic cloves), the fresh bread, and (if desired) with wine.

This recipe is due half to Carmine's Restaurant in New York City, the other half to my family, and the third half (as Leonardo Padura would say) is original.