It's been a bit over a month since I made this, so I'm hoping that I can remember all the changes I made. The base recipe was fine, but the flavour was a bit flat, so I did end up tweaking it a bit just to punch things up a notch.

Slow Cooker Bolognese

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1-2 carrots, grated
• 1-2 onions, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. red wine
• 1kg lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 large (800mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 Parmesan rind (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. dark soy
• 2 tsp. light soy
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add celery, carrots, and onions and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until softened (~10 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook until fragrant (3-4 minutes).
4. Add the red wine and cook until mostly evaporated.¹
5. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, cook the ground beef and season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir the milk into the beef and cook until mostly absorbed.
7. Add the beef to the slow cooker along with the tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme, pepper flakes, and parmesan rind (if using).
8. Cover and cook on low for 6-12 hours.
9. Taste and add sugar, soy sauces, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar if needed.

¹ If you have an InstantPot, then these steps can be done on the sauté setting. Otherwise, transfer veggie mixture to slow cooker once this step is complete. ^Back

I probably could've gotten away without making anything for breakfast this morning since we had plenty of bread. But I'd already forgotten that I made it! So I groggily leafed through my cookbooks upon waking and settled on some gingerbread waffles as a relatively quick and easy option. I decided that they needed some sort of sauce to go on them, so TF helped me put together this simple apple sauce.

Personally, I think the cranberry-pineapple sauce actually complements them better, but the chunky apples are good in a pinch. (Cinnamon cream cheese would also be good!)

Chunky Apple Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• ~700g apples
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• dash (~1/16 tsp.) of ground cloves
• dash (~1/16 tsp.) of ground nutmeg
• a few grinds of salt

Directions

1. Peel, core, and slice apples.
2. Combine apples, water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender (20-30 minutes).

I can no longer remember what I made this chocolate sauce for. But I remember making it and I remember it being tasty!

Dark Chocolate Sauce

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 170g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine cream, corn syrup, and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate and butter.
3. Let stand for 2-3 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
4. Serve warm or transfer to a jar and chill until ready to use. Reheat before serving.

Yakgochujang (Fried Gochujang)

Gochujang is already delicious, but when Aaron suggested trying out this "upgraded" gochujang, I couldn't resist.

Yakgohujang

From Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 3-4 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 250g ground beef, pork, or chicken¹
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 c. gochujang
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil

Directions

1. Heat wok over medium-high heat.
2. Drizzle in oil and swirl to coat pan.
3. Add onion, green onion, and garlic and stir-fry for a minute or two.
4. Add beef (or protein of choice) and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add soy sauce, dasida, and sugar and stir-fry for one more minute.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the gochujang, and cook for another minute or two.
7. Stir in the water and continue cooking for another five minutes or so.
8. Add sesame oil and cook until sauce just beings to bubble.
9. Remove from heat and allow to cool, stiring a few times while it cools.
10. Transfer to a jar and store in the fridge for up to a month.
11. Serve over rice or noodles. Also great on eggs or as a dipping sauce.

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¹ Aaron also suggests tuna or chopped shiitake mushrooms as potential protein/umami sources. ^Back

I made up a batch of waffles a few months ago and used half of them in a savoury application. For the remainder, I decided to go for something sweeter and serve them with this apple topping. It was quite good!

Sautéed Apples in Hard Cider

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 2-3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 apples, peeled and sliced
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• coarse sea salt, ground
• 360mL hard apple or pear cider
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 tsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium-high heat and cook until foamy.
2. Add apples, nutmeg, and a tiny pinch of salt and cook until apples are tender and golden (~7 minutes).
3. Transfer apples to a bowl.
4. Return pan to heat and add the cider, brown sugar, and another small pinch of salt.
5. Bring to a boil and then simmer vigorously until liquid is reduced to ~180mL (~5 minutes).
6. Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl.
7. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook for another minute or so.
8. Stir in lemon juice.
9. Return the apples to the pan and cook until heated through (2-3 minutes).
10. Serve over waffles, pancakes, or French toast.

In The Classic Pasta Cookbook, Hazan talks about the virtues of pasta aglio e olio as a simple, low-effort dish -- basically just pasta tossed with olive oil and a bit of sauteed garlic. And he's not wrong, but often I want something that's no more effort to make, but a has a bit more punch to it. This is that sauce; it's handy when we have a bit of leftover plain pasta after preparing a dish that doesn't quite call for a standard 450g package.

The anchovies described here are found in the grocery store packed whole in oil with generous quantities of red pepper flakes. I do not recommend using anchovy filets; they don't dissolve into the sauce the same way.

Quick Anchovy-Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

• 60-80 mL olive oil
• 3-4 whole anchovies packed in oil with chili flakes
• 1 entire bulb's worth of garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• basil and/or parseley to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat.
2. Add the anchovies and cook, stirring occasionally, until they break down and dissolve into the sauce.
3. Reduce heat to medium low. Stir in the garlic and continue cooking until it is has softened and turned fragrant.
4. Add herbs if desired, toss with pasta and parmesan, and eat.

I think this is possibly only the second time in my life that I've made hollandaise sauce. I vaguely recall making it once before. It's been ages though and I remembered basically none of the procedure. That said, it's not all that complicated. The main this is just making sure that you don't overcook/curdle the egg yolks. The method employed in the Breakfast Bible of drizzling hot butter into a running blender seems to work well for this. The sauce came out smooth and buttery with a minimum of fuss.

It is, of course, quite tricky to reheat. But that's true of a lot of egg- and/or dairy-based sauces in my experience.

Hollandaise Sauce

From the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 c. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine the egg yolks, salt, and lemon juice in a blender.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat.
3. With the blender running, slowly drizzle the hot butter into the egg yolk mixutre. Sauce should form a smooth, thick emulsion.
4. Pour sauce into a small pot, cover, and keep warm over very, very low heat, stirring occasionally, until ready to use.

I've picked up a few cookbook bundles from Humble Bundle over the years, but I haven't ended up using them much. To be fair, that's true of a lot of my hardcopy cookbooks as well. The problem is that -- between the Internet, the curry cookbook, and our collection of Cook's Country magazines -- I already have a massive pile of easy-to-access recipes that I haven't tried yet. So it can sometimes feel a bit awkward or difficult to pull things out of other books and sources.

But, I kind of wanted to mix things up a bit this week. So I decided to leaf through some of my Humble Bundle books. I started out looking for good sweet potato recipes, but then ended up branching out and just looking for anything that looked like a good way to use up ingredients on hand.

I knew I had some ground chicken in the freezer, so I figured I could do these meatballs over some pasta with some sort of salad on the side and call that dinner. My original plan had been to just serve them with spaghetti and maybe give the "French salad" from "The Cookbook" a try. But that was before I had a mix-up with the meal plan earlier in the week which left me with surplus radishes in the middle of the week. Thus, I swapped out the French salad for a celery and herb salad from one of the other Humble Bundle books. And then I ended up coming across half-off tortellini at the grocery store on Tuesday and figured no one would be sad if I swapped the plain spaghetti out for that. And, indeed, they weren't! (Although this change did mean that TF now needed a fist full of Lactaid to go with her meal, but it was still enjoyed by all.)

Despite the meal being a big success once I managed to get it to the table, I did experience a few issues during cooking. I don't know if my sauce was too thick or what, but the InstantPot just could not seem to get up to pressure. It steamed and rattled a bit, but never sealed. (And yes, I did check to make sure the valve was in the proper position.) Eventually it started beeping in distress and alerting me of a burn.

Luckily the burn didn't seem to be too severe; just a little light scortching at the bottom of the pot which I was able to scrape and stir in to no discernable detriment. And the meatballs seemed like they were pretty much cooked at that point, so I wasn't too worried. Just to be on the safe side, I put it on slow cook "high" for a bit while TF got a pot of water boiling and cooked the pasta.

As noted, the meal was still very good. I liked it a lot. But I am a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to cook it as directed. Maybe next time I'll try adding a bit more stock and see if that helps it to get up to pressure more easily. Barring that, I think that this would also work quite well as a "fast" slow cooker recipe provided you had the time to cook it for a few hours, rather than just a few minutes.

So, with that in mind, I have provided the recipe with the original cooking instructions here. Just be aware that they did not work as written for me. Keep an eye on your pot and if it seems to be having trouble sealing, turn it off and finish cooking your sauce by another method.

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Slightly adapted from Healthy Instant Pot by Alexis Mersel

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 c. dried breadcrumbs
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh Basil
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g ground turkey or chicken

Sauce

• 1/2 c. (or more?) chicken stock
• 1 (800mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 c. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. dried garlic
• 1 tsp. dried onion
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• up to 1 tsp. coarse sea salt¹
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2-4 Tbsp. olive oil²
• cooked pasta or spaghetti squash, to serve
• extra basil and Parmesan, to serve

Directions

Meatballs

1. Turn the InstantPot on to sauté "low" and add the oil.
2. Add the onion and cook for ~5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Turn off the instant pot and set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the egg, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, basil, pepper flakes, salt, pepper, chicken/turkey, and sauté mix and add well.
6. Shape mixture into small (2-3cm diameter) balls and set aside on a plate.

Sauce

1. Add the crushed tomato, tomato paste, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning (if using), pepper flakes, garlic, onion, mustard, salt, pepper, and oil to the Instant Pot and mix well.
2. Carefully drop the meatballs into the sauce and gently turn to coat.
3. Seal the lid and pressure cook "high" for 10 minutes followed by a 10-minute natural release.
4. When the sauce is done, toss it with freshly cooked pasta or spaghetti squash and top with additional Parmesan and basil.

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¹ You may not need the full amount of salt if using store-bought stock or broth. Taste your sauce before adding any salt -- or raw meat! -- and then add up to 1 tsp. of salt as needed. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 1/4 c. of oil to be added to the sauce, but I halved this amount to try to make it a bit healthier and cut the calories. However, it's possible that the lower fat content also contributed to the scortching. I think that the most likely culprit is the thikness of the sauce, but I can't completely rule out the oil as a factor. Just something to keep in mind... ^Back

Tamatar ka Lep (Tomato Sauce)

Usually when I need tomato sauce I either wing it or make something based on one of my go-to pizza sauce recipes. I'm also not averse to buying ready-made tomato sauce depending on how much I need and how much effort I feel like putting in. And, occasionally, when I need tomato sauce for an Indian dish, I'll make something based on the spiced tomato sauce recipe that Iyer provides in 660 Curries.

Unfortunately, his recipe takes the approach of adding some ghee and spices to a ready-made tomato sauce. And, frankly, if I'm going to the effort making an Indian-spiced sauce, I don't want to also have to buy a ready-made sauce. Ready-made sauces are for when I'm feeling too lazy to make something myself.

So I usually end up starting with a tin of crushed tomatoes (or purée some whole tomatoes), add a few of my own seasonings, and go from there.

It's generally a little bit different every time. Usually it involves some form of garlic and onions, a bit of salt, pepper (if I remember), and whatever else sounds good to me at the time. I ended up tossing a bit of bottle masala in this time because I figured that was a nice, complex spice blend that would help make up for the fact that I was starting with plain, unseasoned tomatoes. I think, in the past, I've also tossed in Italian seasoning (since most commercial tomato sauce available here tends to be vaguely Italian). The point is, you've got options. I'm just writing something down here to give an idea of some of them.

Tamatar ka Lep

Adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. ghee
• 12 green cardamom pods
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 (828mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1/2 tsp. dhania-jeera masala
• 1 tsp. bottle masala
• 1-2 tsp. fried garlic or garlic paste
• 1-2 tsp. fried onion
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Heat the ghee over medium heat.
2. Add the cardamom pods, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks and sizzle for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes and sprinkle in the chilies, masalas, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and/or whatever other herbs and spices you'd like to use.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the oil begins to separate (25-30 minutes).
5. Remove cardamom pods, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks before using/serving.
6. Sauce should keep in the fridge for ~2 weeks.

Salsa d'Olive con capperi (Olive-Caper Sauce)

This is a delicious sauce! And not too difficult to make either.

I found a suggestion in the back of the book to serve it with steamed string beans. (We ended up using thawed frozen green beans, so that's almost the same.) The preamble to the recipe also suggests serving it with mixed fried vegetables, savoury soufflés, vegetable puddings, or on toast. I suggest making a double batch and serving it on everything!

Salsa d'Olive con Capperi

Slightly adapted from Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. black olives, minced
• 3 Tbsp. capers, rinsed and minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. flour

Directions

1. Heat the oil and 2 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook for ~5 minutes.
3. Add the olives, capers, and parsley and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the water and vinegar and cook for a minute or so.
5. Add the flour and stir until thickened.
6. Remove from heat and add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter.
7. Serve on toast or with steamed or fried vegetables (or as a topping for vegetable soufflés or puddings).

Personally, I think this is more of a red pepper broth than a red pepper sauce, but I guess it's used more as a topping or garnish for coucous so that makes it more of a sauce? I'm not really sure.

I think, having tried this a couple times now -- once with store-bought harissa and once with homemade harissa -- I'm more inclined to just enjoy the broth and harissa separately. I do like extra broth with my couscous. And I like harissa on everything, but I don't think you really gain anything by cooking them together and adding lemon and oil and whatnot. I know that's not exactly a glowing endorsement of this recipe. I'm mostly just providing it for completeness. But, in my opinion, you'd be served just as well by serving your dish with broth and harissa on the side and not bothering with the pepper sauce.

Red Pepper Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1 c. lamb or chicken broth
• 2 tsp. harissa
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and pour into a serving bowl.

Ssamjang (Korean Dipping Sauce)

You can get ready-made ssamjang at many Asian grocery stores, but I didn't have any easily to hand, so this recipe was a life-saver. If you are looking to buy ready-made ssamjang, look for the green tub. (Red tub is gochujang, brown tub is doenjang, green tub and ssamjang.)

Ssamjang

Slightly adapted from Maangchi

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. doenjang¹
• 1 Tbsp. gochujang
• 1 scallion, minced
• 1/4 c. minced onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Serve as a dipping sauce or topping with rice, veggies, meat, or anything else that strikes your fancy!

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¹ I didn't have any doenjang on hand and I really didn't want to have to leave the house again today, so I made do with a mix of white miso paste and hoisin sauce. Red miso generally makes a better substitute for doenjang, but I didn't have any of that either. I used 2 Tbsp. of white miso + 2 Tbsp. of hoisin in place of the doenjang. My ssamjang was delicious! ^Back

A delicious garlicy sauce that can be drizzled over many different meats and vegetables or added to sandwiches and wraps. Very quick and easy to put together and a nice enhancement for many meals.

Tahini Sauce

Slightly adapted from Our Syria by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine garlic paste, salt, tahini, and lemon juice.
2. If mixture seems to thick, add a little water.
3. Stir in yogurt.
4. Season with pepper.

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• black pepper, to taste

This sauce works just fine without the yogurt. No other changes necessary.

Sugo Finto (Fake Sauce)

I initially found the name of this tomato sauce a bit confusing. The autors just give it the English name of "Tomato Sauce II", but the Italian name translates as "fake sauce". Initially I thought that I must've gotten the translation wrong. But nope! It's really called fake sauce. Apparently "fake" refers to the fact that it's meatless. You make it pretty much the same way you'd make a nice ragu sauce, but without the meat. Based on the quick bit of research I did, it stems from the "peasant" or "poverty" cooking traditions of south-central Italy.

I quite liked this sauce. Especially after I added a few capers and some extra herbs and used it to top a delicious polenta casserole!

Sugo Finto

Slightly adapted from Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• pinch of dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• 1 (800mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. corase sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 c. dry white wine (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened (3-4 minutes).
3. Add carrot, celery, oregano, and parsley and cook until vegetables being to brown (~5 minutes).
4. Add tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, and wine (if using).
5. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30-45 minutes. Sauce should reduce and thicken somewhat during this time.
6. The authors recommend running the sauce through a food mill at this point to remove skins and achieve a smooth consistency. Personally, I didn't bother.
7. If you desire a thicker sauce, cook a little more until desired consistency is achieved.
8. Optionally, drizzle with an extra 2-3 Tbsp. of olive oil before serving (or storing) for extra richness.

I don't really feel like doing a write-up today, but I haven't been keeping up with the blog recently and this recipe is at least quick and easy. It's based on a recipe from Cookie & Kate which is, in turn, based off of a recipe from Smitten Kitchen which was, itself, based off of a recipe from Marcella Hazan's famous cookbook. It's basically a modified burro e pomodoro sauce. It has olive oil instead of butter and a few added seasonings.

Marinara Sauce

From Cookie & Kate

Ingredients

• 1 (825mL) can of whole tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion, halved
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
3. Crush the tomatoes and cook for another 30 minutes.
4. Squish the garlic against the side of the pot and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Remove the onion halves and serve over pasta, polenta, or other substrate of choice.

American-Style Spaghetti Sauce (Minus the Hypertension)

Normally, if I'm craving pasta, Hazan is my guy. His Classic Pasta Cookbook has served us in good stead for many years. It has a huge variety of amazing recipes. All the classics plus a bunch of less well-known ones as well. It is full of wondrous and delicious things. This is not a Hazan recipe. Not even close! I can see some similar elements to his marvelous ragu/Bolognaise recipe, but the ingredients are completely different. This sauce looks like what would happen if a Bolognaise and a pomodoro sauce had a baby and then moved to the States and discovered the canned goods aisle in the supermarket. It is very tomato-y, has no dairy and less beef than I'd expect for a standard ragu and uses A LOT of canned ingredients. But, if what you're craving is a big ol' plate of American-style spaghetti and meat sauce, this looks like a very nice rendition of it. And that's exactly what I wanted today.

I tried to stick pretty much to the recipe as I was building this sauce. I did add a carrot since it seemed like it would go well with the celery and onion, but no other additions were made. Carrot just feels like such a natural companion of onions and celery in the pot. It's mirepoix! A classic sauce/soup foundation.

It felt like way too many tomatoes going in -- a whole large tin of diced tomatoes and a large tin of tomato sauce? Really?! -- but I stuck to what it said. My tin of tomato sauce was slightly smaller than the one called for in the recipe, but I couldn't find any that were exactly right and I didn't want to open a second tin just to use <1/3 of it. Besides, there's already so much tomato in this recipe! I think it'll be fine.

The original original recipe (from the blog author's mother) calls for "1 can of beef broth (condensed!)". Her write-up simply asks for "1 15-ounce can of beef broth". No mention of how concentrated it should be. Around here beef broth usually comes in a can or a carton. The cartons are not condensed. The cans are. But the cans are also only 284mL (10 fluid ounces). I'm not sure whether they just get larger cans there or whether she was using some variety of non-condensed beef broth or what. I decided to just go with one 284mL can of condensed broth. Hopefully that's alright.

The last change I made was to completely omit the salt. I usually halve the salt called for in recipes from American authors. In my experience using the full amount of salt results in a dish that is nearly inedible. The idea of adding any salt at all to this recipe made me nervous though. It already has tomato sauce (which contains sugar and salt) and beef broth (very salty). The sauce is still simmering on the stove right now, but after tasting it, I think that leaving out the extra salt -- a whole teaspoon! -- was the right call. Honestly, I think I probably should've halved the sugar as well. It is very sweet. I thought 2 Tbsp. seemed like a lot of sugar, but I was trying not to deviate too far from the recipe. And it is meant to be an American-style sauce after all.

I think I will want to tweak this a bit more if/when I make it again though. Maybe it's not really American-style if it's not full of sugar and salt, but I think it still could be. I think the tomato-y, beef-y spirit of the recipe could be preserved while scaling back the sugar and salt to more tolerable levels. And, while I'm tweaking anyway, I think it'd be nice to trade out a portion of the black pepper for a touch of crushed chili flakes. Nothing major, just something to give it another layer of flavour and a tiny bit of heat.

American-Style Spaghetti Sauce

Adapted from Foodie Crush

Ingredients

• 450g lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
• 5 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (156mL) can tomato paste
• 1 (800mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (680mL) can tomato sauce
• 1 (284mL) can condensed beef broth
• 2 (284mL) cans sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 c. red wine
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

1. Brown the beef over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot and cook until vegetables soften (5-7 minutes).
3. Add cloves and bay leaves and cook for another minute or so.
4. Stir in tomato paste an allow for another 1-2 minutes of cooking.
5. Stir in remaining ingredients.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 3-4 hours.
7. Serve by mixing cooked spaghetti into the sauce and then dishing up individual portions.

No-Cook Pizza Sauce

I posted another pizza sauce recipe not too long ago. I debated whether or not to post this one too. They're both very tasty though. And this one has the benefit of being a super quick, stir-everything-together-in-a-bowl-and-you're-done recipe!

Pizza Sauce

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2017

Ingredients

• 1 c. canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 5 tsp. chopped fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Just a quick tomato sauce. It can be either chunky or smooth depending on whether or not you purée it after cooking.

Pizza Sauce

Slightly adapted from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 6 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 1/3 c. canned diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp. fresh basil, chopped

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook for 2-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Add oregano, pepper, and salt and cook for a further 30 seconds or so.
5. Add tomato paste and cook for another minute.
6. Add tomatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Stir in basil and allow to cool.
8. Purée in blender if a smooth sauce is desired.

Edmonds "white sauce" recipe is extremely versatile. Aside from the basic roux-based dairy sauce it can be turned into half a dozen other variants using the same base. The cheese sauce simply involves adding a bit of grated Cheddar to the finished sauce.

Cheese Sauce

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. salted butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour (any type)
• 1 c. milk, warmed
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. grated Cheddar

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour and cook until frothy.
3. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the milk.
4. Return to heat and cook until sauce boils and thickens.
5. Cook for another 2 minutes.
6. Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

I've just been using regular old non-vegetarian fish sauce in all my cooking so far. (I got a bit bottle ages ago and I'm still working on using it up.) The folks at America's Test Kitchen recommend Bragg Liquid Aminos as a good vegetarian option when you need to substitute fish sauce. They also suggest this recipe as a good homemade alternative.

Vegetarian Fish Sauce Substitute

From The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 7g dried sliced shiitake mushrooms

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients over medium heat and simmer until mixture is reduced by half. (~30 minutes)
2. Strain and cool completely.
3. Store in fridge for up to 2 months.