My Pasta Recipe

WTF?

Hahahha.

Yes, I'm blogging about my pasta sauce that I make. Mainly for my own reference, I don't want to do what my mother did and never write down her recipes. Though the ones she did write down were all in Armenian, which I can't read. So I'm kind of out of luck. Thankfully my next door neighbour is of Arabian descent, and every few weeks will drop by with something extra that she made, knowing all too well I love the food and miss it because mum is no longer around.

The recipes I have are completely made up by me. I put in what I think should go in. I base this around using pictures and remembering smells from a past life so I don't go putting eggs into the tomato sauce that I'm making for my lunch today.

Here's what I think you need to do. I say think.... because much like the music I play I really have no clue as to what I'm actually doing.

2 Tablespoons good extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tea spoon pepper

2 Tablespoons Oregano

2 dried chillies (add more if you like it hot - I do, and usually add 3)

1kg mince beef

1 large onion

1 large carrot

3 large mushrooms (pick your favourite type)

7-8 small tomatoes or 5 large ones (smaller ones are better)

2 cloves of garlic

1 wooden spoon for stirring things

2 large pots for sauce.

Dice the onion, carrot and mushrooms into small cubes (2-3cm)

Place large pot on stove top and heat up olive oil.

Cook down the mince while separating them so the pieces are very small.

When mince has browned, throw in the onion, stir in with the mince.

Throw in the salt, pepper, chilli, garlic, mushrooms and carrots. Stirring into the mince.

Let that simmer for 20 minutes on low heat to let the flavours develop.

Take another large pot and fill it with water. Set it to boil and place your whole, fresh tomatoes into the water.

When their skins start to split, take it off the heat, pour the hot water out, fill it with cold water to stop the tomatoes cooking further.

Take out tomatoes and peel their skins off. They should just slip off the tomato.

Crank up the heat on thi pot with the mince and bring it back up to temperature.

Place tomatoes into the mince and smash them into oblivion with your wooden spoon.

Stir well into sauce. Some of the tomato will remain. This is fine and adds to the 'home cooked' texture of the dish.

Place the pot on medium heat, add some water just to the top of the ingredients so the bottom of the pot doesn't burn the food.

Once boiling, reduce heat to low and keep it simmering for about 4 hours. Check every 30 minutes to see the level of the liquid. If it needs topping up, do so, gently and with warm water so the temperature doesn't drop.

Once the sauces is rich, red and thick. Take it of the heat and let it settle and cool naturally.

If you want to eat now, make your pasta of your choice by boiling some water, add salt to the water, then once boiling and bubbling, throw your pasta into the water. Do not add oil. This is a stupid myth about pasta, so it apparently doesn't stick.

Sticking is caused by putting pasta in water that hasn't boiled yet. The whole point of the pasta is to hold the sauce. If you use oil in your pasta, the sauce won't stick to it. You can, however use oil in pasta dishes without tomato based sauces, plain pastas with garlic, broccoli, prawns, pesto. etc. Never with red sauces. The salt goes into the boiling water to give the pasta a lift and add some flavour.

Once the pasta is cooked al dente (which means when you taste test it, the middle is just a tiny bit raw, still hard. You take it out, drain the water and then put the pasta back in the pot. Then add your sauce to the pot. Why is pasta served al dente?

It's because the pasta still cooks after you take it off the heat. It's still cooking while you drain the water, and it cooks some more when you add your sauce, which is usually still hot. By the time you get around to bringing it to the table, the pasta will be perfectly cooked.

Overcooking it, and you might as well eat potatoes. Undercooking it? Well, that's just not pleasant..... enjoy your pastachute!