"Deep South Spaghetti Meat Sauce with Andouille

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 large rib of celery, chopped
• 2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 pound andouille sausage, very thinly sliced
• 4 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, or to taste, optional
• 2 large bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepperor to taste
• 1 pound vermicelli or thin spaghetti, broken in half

Details

Adapted from deepsouthdish.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pot and sauté onion, celery and bell pepper until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the ground beef; cook and stir until lightly browned. Drain off any excess grease. Add the smoked sausage; cook and stir for 4 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, hot sauce and water; add the sugar, Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer, cover partially and let simmer for 1 hour. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Cook the pasta al dente according to the package directions in a large pot of well salted water; drain well. Add the noodles to the sauce in the pot, mix well, cover and let rest for 10 minutes off heat before serving.

Cook's Notes: Play around with the tomatoes in this recipe. For instance I've substituted the 24 ounce Del Monte pasta sauce for part of the tomato sauce and used different types of canned tomatoes, such as Rotel or stewed.