Recipes

This section will feature delicious recipes mentioned in A Vase of Mistaken Identity or of special significance to me. The first is Uncle Nick’s secret spaghetti sauce, something of a sticky subject for Thea. She has pleaded with him for years to reveal the hush-hush on his sauce. We can only hope that she’ll use her marvelous detecting skills and find it on this Web site. It’s all ready to print off - so enjoy!

Uncle Nick’s Special Secret Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients: A jar of your favorite store-bought pasta sauce, extra virgin olive oil, one large onion, a green pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 lb ground meat.

THE SECRET (shhhh) is in the sautéing       and in using the FRESHEST vegetables!!!

1. Empty jar of sauce into a large pot and simmer on low.
                                                                         2. Heat enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom of a large cast-iron skillet and bring to a high heat.

3. Add chopped onion & sauté 5 min to soften. Then add chunks of green pepper & zucchini (if desired). Stir continuously, sautéing until the veggies are almost charbroiled to give the sauce that stove-top roasted taste. Dump everything into the sauce pot.

4. Next, brown meat (1 lb of ground beef or turkey) & add to pot. Put more olive oil in skillet, add fresh, chopped mushrooms & brown until all water is evaporated. Toss & grill until mushrooms are slightly browned.

5. Mince fresh garlic. Uncle Nick used 4 cloves of garlic to one jar of Prego and 1 lb of ground meat. He always says, “What salt is to normal food, garlic is to my special secret sauce.”

6. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles. One may substitute grilled chicken chunks for ground meat. Enjoy, with Uncle Nick’s compliments!