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| Vintage Maxwell House can by Coffeetropolis |
Among homemade tomato sauce makers, recipes are often as proprietary as the formula for Coca-Cola, with good reason. Good homemade sauce is the nectar of the gods, and quite frankly, you get a lot of good eating for not much effort. You put a bunch of tasty stuff in a big, deep pan, you simmer it for a while and if you have the foresight to create in scale, you have dinner tonight and containers of frozen delicious that will last you a few weeks.
If you’re the adventurous sort, you can prance about the market filling your cart with any number of things that will cook into a sauce that’s a fine topping for any bowl of fresh pasta. Whole tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, shredded carrots, assorted herbs, various meats or meatballs or sausages. You might even swing by your local package store to spirit up your marinara with red wine, white wine or perhaps some vodka. If the clever cooks in the marketing department at Maxwell House have their way, you will also drive down the coffee aisle so your sauce is good to the last drop.
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| Tomato salt shaker by BingoBox |
The title says it all: Coffee Makes it Delicious: The Coffee Cookbook from Maxwell House Coffee. Published in 1981, this little spiral cookbooklet attempts to convince us that if we are only enjoying our coffee in a cup, we are underachieving. Coffee should be in our pies, our casseroles, our cakes, our cookies, our meaty main dishes and yes, our tomato sauce. If nothing else, giving this recipe a try will perk up a little kitchen adventure from venturing into the culinary realm of the new and unexpected.
Italian Meat Sauce
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| Dansk enamel pot by RuffByMargo |
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive or salad oil
1 lb. ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed tomato soup
2 cans ( 6 oz. each) tomato paste
1 1/2 cups brewed Maxwell House coffee
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 can (3 oz.) sliced mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon basil or oregano
Hot cooked spaghetti or other pasta
Grated Parmesan cheese
Brown garlic and onion lightly in oil. Add meat and brown, stirring frequently. Stir in soup, tomato paste, coffee and sugar. Mix well and simmer 30 minutes. Add mushrooms and basil and simmer 5 minutes longer. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with cheese. Makes 6 servings.