Spaghetti!

My family just loves spaghetti and it's been a while since I've made homemade spaghetti sauce. With all the ingredients in my pantry, I decided that I would make it for them this past week. Making spaghetti sauce is super simple, with the majority of the work done simmering on the stove for a few hours. Garlic bread just goes with spaghetti, so since I was doing things homemade, I pulled out my recipe for garlic French bread too. The family loved this so much, there wasn't a single bit left after dinner!  Make this the next time you are in the mood for a good classic and the whole family will be sure to enjoy.

What's cooking in my kitchen this week:
Homemade spaghetti with garlic French bread

What you'll need:
1 lb ground pork*
54 ounces tomato sauce
14.5 oz diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large shallot
handful fresh basil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbsp sherry wine
1 Tbsp oil
2 package spaghetti noodles

*note: you can substitute for any ground meat, or none at all if that is what you want. 

Garlic French bread
1 package active dry yeast
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1/3 tsp salt
2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cup flour

How to make it:
The key to really good spaghetti sauce is letting simmer for a few hours once you have everything in the pot. First, get the shallot diced up finely and mince the garlic. Place both in small bowl, with the exception of 2 teaspoons minced garlic, and set aside. Place the 2 teaspoons mince garlic in separate small bowl for garlic bread later.

Next, finely chop up a handful of fresh basil leaves and set aside.

Put oil in big pot and heat on medium-high heat. Sauté shallot and garlic 1-2 minutes, you don't want to burn the garlic.

Add ground pork and cook until meat is brown. Add the sherry wine to deglaze the pot.

Next, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, ground black pepper, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to pot.

Bring to boil and reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally; I generally let mine go for 4-5 hours, so I start this in the morning so it will be ready for dinner.

Once the sauce is going and can be left alone, for the most part, start on the garlic French bread. Combine the yeast and 1 cup warm water in large bowl, stirring until yeast is dissolved.

Mix in the olive oil, minced garlic, and salt.

Add 2 cups flour to yeast mixture. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in additional flour until dough forms a soft ball.

Turn dough on floured surface. Kneed dough, adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes.

Place dough in large, greased bowl.

Cover loosely and place in warm place to rise, until dough as doubled in size.  Punch down dough in bowl. Turn dough out on floured surface. Divide dough in two pieces and shape into loaves. Place loaves on greased cookie sheet.

Make three 1/2 deep diagonal cuts on top of each loaf with sharp knife. Cover loosely and let dough rise until almost double in size.

Bake loaves in 450° oven 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. (As an added little bonus, I take melted butter and brush all over the top of the loaves right when it comes out of the oven.)

When I put the loaves on the cookie sheet to rise again, I did start to boil my water, with a bit of salt, to cook the spaghetti noodles. Once loaves were in the oven, the water was nice and boiling and I put the noddles in to cook. I have found that for 2 packages of noodles, you need to cook them a bit longer than the 10-11 minutes generally on the directions; usually about 13-15 minutes. Once noodles and bread are done, everything is ready to serve. Enjoy!

Did you know?
On this day in 1940, the caves at Lascaux in France are discovered. They contain some of the earliest know art, dating back over 15,000 years. The prehistoric cave paintings (over 600) depict many large animals including aurochs, red deer, horses, stags, bison, etc.