I love fall. Love love love it. And I always have. I was that geeky little girl who was excited to go back to school. I was that geeky college student excited to go back to school. I love the crispness in the air, and sweaters and scarves, and fires in the fireplace. In New England, I always felt that fall was the only season that was bearable. And while it might not be quite as breathtaking here in California (we make up for it with the rest of the year being so phenomenal), it still makes me smile. We got our first acorn squash from our CSA last night, and I almost got giddy.
I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling excited for fall when I saw several recipes for slow-cooked , meaty spaghetti sauce popping up in my feed reader this week. Meaty spaghetti sauce is totally not a thing you cook when it’s high season summer. Meaty spaghetti sauce is fall food, and I fell for it, hard. Last night, it was the only thing I wanted for dinner. I scrapped my existing plans (I think they called for a lot of summer vegetables or something), and instead set about making my whole apartment smell garlicky and tomatoey and amazing.
While my sauce sat on the stove, burbling away, I sat down and started planning out my fall cleaning. I’ve been feeling a serious need to purge and deep clean lately, and while I suppose most people do this in the spring, fall just seems like the right time for me. There is something going on in my brain that is making me feel the need for some Organization, big time. I’m in a very project-focused mode and, I don’t know, I think my life needs a good, methodical cleansing. Does anyone else feel this way these days? Of course, I’m also feeling like my life is SO BUSY, and I’m a little frantic and that is just not conducive to good methodical cleansing.
That is why a dinner like this was perfect for last night. This is cooking that doesn’t require hustling around the kitchen. This was simple, and while it cooked, I didn’t have to do anything but wait. I could sit down quietly and give myself space, and time. I could make plans, and begin to feel that my household rhythm is returning to its normal beat. Slow-cooked dinners are perfect for getting back into your normal beat.
And when we sat down to eat, I felt the coziness of the coming seasons being welcomed into our house. And it made me smile.
| Classic Spaghetti Sauce |
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
- lots of garlic (I used about 7 smallish cloves)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
- a good pinch of dried red pepper flakes
- about 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- about 3/4 cup red wine
- 2 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- spaghetti and Parmesan, for serving
- Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onions, and cook for about three minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the peppers, stir, and cook for another three or four minutes.
- Add the beef, and break it up with a wooden spoon. Remove the casings from the sausage, add them to the pot, and break them up with the spoon as well. Stir the meat while it cooks, breaking it apart until it’s nicely crumbled.
- When the meat is mostly browned, add the garlic, oregano, tarragon, crushed red pepper, and salt. Stir well. Stir in the tomato paste, then the red wine, then the crushed tomatoes. Then add the bay leaves, and bring the mixture to a good simmer.
- Cover the pot and let the sauce simmer for at least an hour, but preferably closer to two. Taste occasionally and adjust the seasoning to your preference. If it’s too acidic for your taste, add a little sugar (I usually don’t).
- When you’re ready to eat, cook up some spaghetti. Serve the sauce over the spaghetti, with a nice dusting of freshly grated Parmesan. Revel in your warming, comforting, wonderful spaghetti dinner, and greet the fall with open arms.
This makes a lot of sauce. I like to freeze most of it for future nights when I need an easy dinner. It freezes like a dream.