Ingredients
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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1 large onion, minced
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4 garlic cloves, minced
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1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
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2 (1 lb) cans plum tomatoes, pureed
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2 cups water
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2 tablespoons tomato paste
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2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
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1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
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1 tablespoon maggi seasoning sauce (a liquid soy-yeast extract blend lacking this, use regular dark soy sauce)
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1 1/2 teaspoons salt
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1/4 teaspoon pepper
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2 small dried red chilies (my kids won't let me add this, but it's good)
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1 tablespoon dried oregano, crumbled (Mediterranean)
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1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
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1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
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2 bay leaves
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8 allspice berries
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1 1/2 lbs cooked spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)
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1/3 lb butter, cold
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1/2 cup grated mizithra cheese (or Parmesan, but myzithra is authentic)
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more grated cheese, for the table
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1 1/2 cinnamon sticks (each stick measuring about 3 inches in length, 2 sticks broken in half, don't use one of the halves)
Instructions
- In a medium to large sized pot, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, over high heat until onion is translucent and whole house smells good, about 4 minutes. Add ground beef and smash down with the tip of your wooden spoon to break it up. Brown beef well.
- When you think it’s been browned long enough and it’s time to give it a stir to redistribute the meat for more browning – STOP – wait another minute and a half to two minutes, and then stir up the meat. Do this repeatedly until all the meat is good and brown. This is important for the end result. For a good meat sauce, you want your meat to have browned sufficiently, and most people don’t give it enough time. In all, this process should take 12-15 minutes.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, bring back to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 35 minutes, then cover pot and simmer a further 30 minutes. This is as long as I cook it for my family, the sauce is as thick as we like it. If you like your sauce thicker, cook it uncovered slightly longer before covering the pot (another 5-10 minutes?). If you like your sauce thinner, cover the pot after 25-30 minutes of simmering before continuing with the additional half hour.
- Fish out bay leaves, chilis (if using), allspice berries and cinnamon sticks.
- This recipe makes quite a lot of sauce, which is a good thing as you can freeze what's left to enjoy on another day, when there's little to no time to cook a homemade meal.
- To make authentic greek-style pasta: Cook pasta (I usually use spaghettini, but not exclusively) in the regular way until al dente. Drain.
- In the dry pot you cooked the pasta in, add the butter (BUTTER, not oil, not margarine); melt and brown the butter. This takes about 3-4 minutes at high heat. Turn off heat source and add spaghetti back to the pot. Toss to coat with browned butter.
- Put spaghetti in large platter, pour half of sauce over, sprinkle with about ½ cup myzithra cheese.
- Put the remaining sauce in a deep bowl and serve at the table for people to top off their pasta along with extra grated cheese.