special meaty spaghetti

i have been wanting to cook spaghetti since november last year and i already bought the ingedients. it has been waiting in my kitchen for a couple of months already.

last night, i decided to cook spaghetti since kim's on a diet (daw ;)) and makuy's been asking me for century for this... and i still have ground pork and hotdog in the freezer. i was happy with the result. as usual makuy doesn't want any meat on his pasta, only the sauce and sometimes only the cheese. but last night, he ate everything, the sauce with the meat, hotdog and mushroom... and he ate alot.

i decided to make garlic bread since i like spaghetti better with garlic bread. even without parsely, it's still okay.

i've learned from mamely's foodblog that the secret for a yummy spaghetti is the slow cooking of the sauce. although i only simmered my sauce for 45 minutes and not as she said, it still came out quite good. since i was tasting the sauce while i was cooking it, i was thinking that it's a bit sour and makuy doesn't like that. but when we started eating it, the little sourness was gone and it tastes good. maybe because it already blended well with the pasta and the cheese... well, that's what i thought. mmm... maybe because the spaghetti sauce that i bought already flavored with onion, garlic and herbs and spices.

here's my version of my special meatty spaghetti...

ingredients:
250 gm. spaghetti pasta
1 cup ground pork
2 chicken hotdogs, sliced diagonally
2 hotdogs, sliced diagonally
cooking oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup button mushroom, sliced
1 can (250 gm) tomato sauce
1 can (250 gm) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup cheese, grated

procedure:
cook the pasta as per package direction at the same time you start cooking the sauce. make sure that you rinse the pasta in running water after it has been cooked to stop the cooking process and it will prevent the pasta from being too soft and stick together.

cook the hotdogs in a little water in a wok. when the water evaporates put a very little oil and continue cooking until a little bit browned. remove from wok and set aside.

using the same wok, put 1 tbsp. oil and brown the ground pork. for me, i wanted it really brown and i seasoned my ground pork with salt and pepper already. remove from wok and drain excess oil.

with the remaining oil in the same wok, saute garlic and onion until onion becomes transluscent and wilted. then add the mushroom and continue sauteing for a couple of minutes. then add the hotdogs and cooked ground pork in the wok and atil for a few minutes.

add the tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce and water. season with salt and pepper and mix well. lower your heat and slow cook the sauce for 45 minutes.

add the brown sugar and continue mixing for a couple more minutes. remove from fire.

pour over the cooked pasta and top with the grated cheese.

for the garlic bread...
ingredients:
6 slices bread
4 cloves garlic, diced and crushed
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, soften but not melted

procedure:
combine the garlic and butter and make into paste. if you like, you can season it with a little salt and pepper. you can also add diced parsely.

brush each slice of bread with the garlic-butter mixture and lay on a baking sheet/dish.

broil in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes or until fragrant and a little brown but not burned. always watch it while broiling in the oven to avoid burning the bread. you can also cover the baking sheet/dish with aluminum foil to avoid burning and broil in the oven for about 7-8 minutes.

take our of the oven and ready to be served with the spaghetti.