Happy National Spaghetti Day! I hope you all are off to a pleasant start to this new year. I know: it’s a Monday and most of us are getting back in the work saddle, going through a santa-sack-full of missed e-mails, and planning out new projects looming on the horizon. The new year is a great time to start something new or maybe fix some things that weren’t working right in the prior year. Here, at Mangia McCann HQ, we’ve been going through some clean-ups on the site background information, upgrading the search menu on the main page, consolidating tagging for streamlining purposes, and, I’m launching a new series: Recipe Review - where I’ll find a recipe online for something I’m craving and, if it’s just not hitting the spot, I’m going to work on it until it is resolved.
It’s been a cold, rainy start to the year, and after the holidays, I was looking for something simple but satisfying. Back in college on certain cold and rainy nights, I always had a craving for Baked Spaghetti. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant I had it, but, it was a regular fixture in the winter. I tried my luck with one of my goto sites: Cook’s Illustrated. They have a great one-pan baked ziti recipe I use often, always have solid content and rarely let me down. How could I go wrong?
Well...let’s just say, I wasn’t too impressed with this recipe. Again, this is a rarity for Cook’s Illustrated, but I guess it can happen to anyone. What were the problems? The sauce lacked depth, it didn’t “bake-up” like a ziti (or the baked spaghetti I remember from many years ago), and when you dished it out, it kind of all collapsed into a puddle on the plate. Now, if you’re in a rush on a weeknight and you want spaghetti and meat sauce and only want to clean one pan...this is an ok recipe. However, I’m going to tweak this and hopefully have my ideal dish for you in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
Skillet-Baked Spaghetti adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
12 oz 90% lean beef
4 oz Italian sausage, casing removed
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp dried oregano
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
8 oz spaghetti (broken into thirds)
¼ cup cream
6 tbsp freshly chopped basil
1 cup shredded Italian cheese
In a 12-inch skillet, brown the beef and sausage, breaking them up into small pieces, over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, oregano and pepper flakes until fragrant. Then, add the crushed tomatoes, 2 cups of water, the spaghetti pieces and 2 tsp of salt. Stir to combine.
Cover and cook for 7 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
After 7 minutes, give one last stir and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for an additional 6 minutes.
Stir in the cream and basil and ⅓ of the cheese. Top with the remaining cheese and cook, under the broiler, for about 5 minutes or until browned to your liking.
Let the dish set for a few minutes, then serve. _____________________________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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