Let's Cook !

The counter is full of Brandywine tomatoes from the garden. Sweet bell peppers are ripe for the pickin' and basil is ready to be pinched. 

The counter is full of Brandywine tomatoes from the garden. Sweet bell peppers are ripe for the pickin' and basil is ready to be pinched. Combine that with almost a week of rain, and you have the perfect recipe for: "Let's cook spaghetti!" Otherwise known as "it's too wet to do anything outside".

And as I type, it is raining AGAIN with thunder this time for a true Southern afternoon thunderstorm. Please don't get the electric fence charger (again)!

I digress -- here's my recipe for awesome summer spaghetti sauce. Try it...I promise you'll LIKE it :)

Start with a pound or so of ground round or ground sirloin over medium heat. Brown it a little and add your onion and bell pepper. Vidalias are in season, and who doesn't like Georgia sweet onions?

Cook till meat is a little brown and onions and peppers start to soften. Drain grease and return to pan. At this point, add about 1/3 cup olive oil so nothing sticks.

Add chopped and chunked tomatoes, and tear basil leaves off stems. I guess you could chop with a knife, but tearing works fine. I used 5-6 very large tomatoes and about 1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves. The rosemary bush beckoned, and I also added some fresh chopped rosemary. No stems -- just tear and chop the prickly leaf things off the stem and cut or chop into small pieces.

Add garlic cloves -- lots of them till you get tired of pealing and chopping and your hands stink. I used 4 cloves.

Mushrooms? I'm a fungi person....Yes, please.

Add a good douse of red wine. Pour a glass for yourself as well. This stuff needs to simmer for at least an hour, so you have time. Give it a good stir, turn skillet on low and cover.

After a while, it begins to cook down and look like the meat sauce it is supposed to be. Be sure to stir frequently, and simmer for about an hour. Don't forget to put your noodles onto boil about 45 minutes into the hour long simmer time which goes surprisingly faster than you think so everything is ready at about the same time.

Better blogs would include a perfectly set dinner table with plates full of beautiful spaghetti with a rose and basil centerpiece. This is not one of those blogs...at least not today. I will tell you that it was the best dinner in front of the tv we've had in quite a while. No Korie -- dogs can't have spaghetti :-)

VOILA! Homemade spaghetti. Yum.