Ev's Greek Spaghetti Dinner

evelyn/athens's Note:

Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients and instructions - it comes together really quickly and I'm a stickler for detail. This is really good and I do recommend you try spaghetti 'the Greek way'. I'm pretty sure you're going to like it.;-) If you want to make this a totally Greek dinner, then serve with a Greek salad, crusty bread, red wine, and fresh fruit for dessert.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2 (1 lb) cans plum tomatoes, pureed
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon maggi seasoning sauce (a liquid soy-yeast extract blend lacking this, use regular dark soy sauce)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 small dried red chilies (my kids won't let me add this, but it's good) (optional)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano, crumbled (Mediterranean)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 allspice berries
• 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)
• 1 1/2 lbs cooked spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)
• 1/3 lb butter, cold
• 1/2 cup grated mizithra cheese (or Parmesan, but myzithra is authentic)
• more grated cheese, for the table

Directions:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Fish out bay leaves, chilis (if using), allspice berries and cinnamon sticks.
5. 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.
6. To make authentic greek-style pasta: Cook pasta (I usually use spaghettini, but not exclusively) in the regular way until al dente. Drain.
7. 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.
8. Put spaghetti in large platter, pour half of sauce over, sprinkle with about ½ cup myzithra cheese.
9. 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.

Reviews

[Lizzie-Babette]

This tastes very much like my grandmother's spaghetti, so it was a very memorable meal for me. I've never liked any meat sauce but hers, and now I feel that I can recreate it myself (Grammie would be so proud!). I made this exactly as directed except for three things: had to use ground allspice (about 1/4 - 1/2 t or so), had to use ground cinnamon (also about 1/4 - 1/2 t or so), and used more cheese just because I love mizithra! The taste was really outstanding (reminded me a bit of the sauce Grammie used to make with chicken kapama). The recipe really does come together quickly; while the meat was browning, I measured out the dry ingredients in one ramekin, and put the wet ingredients (except for tomatoes and water) in another, so it was a snap to make, although it was torture to wait for the sauce to be ready - smelled too good! Per Evelyn's suggestion, we paired this with a simple salad, bread, and red wine. Wonderful and delicious!

[Chef #848509]

i think this is great!!! ecspecially since i'm a student in middle school that just got a big greek project {which was to make a greek recipe book!} i'd like to thank you for the recipe it was a big help!!!! - M.M.

[sugarpea]

Excellent spaghetti sauce! Wouldn't change a thing except maybe to add a couple more chiles next time. Just delicious!!