The Better Pasta Dinner

Until college I never knew that you could mess up pasta. In my household it has always been the dinner reserved for days when no one wants to spend time preparing a meal. But oh, college has opened my eyes to a variety of things I hoped never to experience; like noodles that are undercooked and generic sauce straight from a can. The culinary atrocities I have witnessed in pursuit of a higher education!

Spring break is coming up and I can't wait to return home and enjoy a quality meal. 

On a total nerd note, can you believe the picture above was taken at night? I just got the Canon Speedlite flash for my DSLR. That combined with a few white presentation boards from Office Depot and it's like the sun never has to go down!

And not to brag or anything, but could I really call myself The Better Martha if I didn't bake a couple loaves of bread from scratch? But in all honesty I didn't plan to, but my parents are very spoiled. When I said I'd make pasta, they demanded made a request for some bread. I'm not sure when they started to think they were Beyoncé and Jay-Z and could start making demands like this. 

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

2½ oz shredded parmesan cheese

2 lbs 80% lean ground beef

2 14 oz cans of crushed tomatoes 

4 cloves garlic minced 

1 tbspn dried oregano

1 tbspn dried basil

3 tspn salt 

2 tspn black pepper

2 tbspn granulated sugar (plus more to taste)

¼ cup red wine

1 white onion chopped

1 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook ground beef over medium heat until thoroughly browned then set aside

2. In a saucepan combine olive oil and chopped onion over medium heat

3. When onions are translucent add in crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt,garlic, black pepper and red wine and allow to cook for 12 minutes on medium-high heat stirring occasionally. 

4. For a smooth sauce pour tomato mixture in a blender and blend until desired texture is achieved (if you like a chunkier sauce skip this step)

5. Pour sauce back into saucepan and stir in cooked beef allow to simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes

6. Stir in shredded parmesan until fully melted and incorporated

7. Serve over french bread or pasta