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Nowell Spaghetti Sauce

Nowell Spaghetti Sauce

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Yield: 4-6 servings
Loosely based on a recipe in the Seven Seas Nantucket Cookbook.

This is a moving target recipe if there ever was one. This is a quick cooking sauce and does not need long simmering.  Once the sauce is mixed and simmering, the sauce will be done in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

Meat:

  • 4-6Italian sausages, sweet, mild, hot or combination (optional)
  • 1lb ground beef
  • 8oz ground pork or ground sausage (optional)

Veg:

  • 2TBS Olive oil
  • 1small or medium onion chopped fine
  • 1green bell pepper, small dice (optional)
  • 2cloves garlic minced
  • 1green bell pepper, diced
  • 8oz mushrooms, sliced or quartered (optional)

For sauce:

  • 114-oz can tomato sauce
  • 114-oz can diced tomatoes
  • 16-oz can tomato paste (optional)
  • 16-oz can water (paste can) (optional)

Seasonings:

  • 1tsp basil
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp sugar
  • ¼ to ½tsp fresh ground black pepper


For sausage: If adding the optional sausage, place them in a sauté pan over medium high heat with a cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer. Turn over after 6 minutes, cover and cook for another 6 minutes. Pour water into a glass measuring cup. Return to stove, and sauté until browned on all sides 4-8 minutes. Set aside.

For mushrooms: If adding the optional mushrooms, place them and a TBS of olive oil to the sauté pan over medium heat. Cook for 4-8 minutes, until water evaporates and mushrooms brown. Set aside.

Sweat vegetables: In a 2-qt sauce pan, heat 1 TBS olive oil and sweat (see Terms) onion and optional green pepper over medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned. Add garlic, sauté 30 seconds more. Remove to a small bowl.

For ground beef: Carefully remove any left over garlic, otherwise it will burn and get bitter. Turn heat up to medium-high. Add ground beef and brown until mostly cooked through. Reduce heat to medium.

For sauce: Return onion and garlic to pan. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and optional paste. Fill paste can with tap or sausage water and add. Add all seasonings and 1 TBS olive oil. Stir carefully. If using, add sausage to pan. Cover, bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer while pasta cooks.

Options:

Go meatless with no beef or sausage. Ha ha ha.
Replace onion with 1 TBS Minced onion flakes.
Replace garlic with ½ tsp garlic powder (only if desperate).
Adjust seasonings. I always uses a heaping tsp of basil and oregano based on an eye-ball guess.

Osso Buco – Pressure Cooker

Osso Buco – Pressure Cooker

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Yield: 6 Servings
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
  • 6veal shanks (4 to 4 ½ lb total), about 1 ½ inches thick, tied tightly around the middle with kitchen string
  • 3¾tsp kosher salt
  • 2tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • ½cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼cup olive oil
  • 2½cups chopped yellow onion (about 2 medium onions)
  • 1cup diced celery (2 to 3 ribs)
  • 1cup diced carrot (2 medium carrots)
  • 3TBS tomato paste
  • 2TBS minced garlic (4 to 6 cloves)
  • 2bay leaves
  • 1tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • 1tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
  • 1½cups dry red wine
  • 4½cups rich veal stock, or homemade beef stock, or substitute 1 cup demi-glace and 3½ cups packaged low sodium beef broth
  • 2TBS unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¼cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • Note: Reduce all ingredients proportionally for less than 4 lbs shanks.


Season the meat on all sides with 2½ tsp of the salt and 1 tsp of the pepper. Dredge the veal shanks in the flour, shaking them to remove any excess. Set the shanks aside. Reserve 3 TBS of the remaining dredging flour and discard the rest.

Set a 6-qt Instant Pot to the SAUTÉ HIGH setting. Add oil and heat until shimmering. Brown the shanks on all sides, in batches if necessary, 10 to 12 minutes per batch. Remove the shanks from the Instant Pot and set aside.

Add the onion, celery, and carrot to the Instant Pot and cook until softened and lightly browned around the edges, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaves, half of the thyme, half of the rosemary, the remaining 1¼ tsp salt, and the remaining 1 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Add the stock and return the shanks to the Instant Pot. Bring to a boil. Seal Instant Pot and set to MANUAL HIGH pressure 65 minutes. Note: With 3 lbs of shanks, the cook time was too long. Try 45 minutes.

Open the pressure release valve and allow the steam to escape. Unlock and carefully open the lid. The shanks should be nearly fall-from-the-bone tender. If the meat still meets with resistance, continue to cook under pressure for 2 to 4 minutes longer. Carefully transfer the shanks to a bowl and tent it with aluminum foil to keep warm. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

In a medium heat-proof bowl, mix the butter with the reserved dredging flour to form a smooth paste. Ladle 1 cup of the hot cooking liquid into the bowl and whisk to combine. Then stir this flour-broth mixture into the cooking liquid in the Instant Pot. Add the remaining rosemary and thyme. Set the Instant Pot to the SAUTÉ LOW and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and smooth and any floury taste is gone, 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, then return the shanks to the sauce to rewarm briefly before serving. Serve as desired, garnished with a sprinkling of parsley.