Add a Little Spice to Your Spaghetti!

Let me start this post by saying that I LOVE pasta...pretty much all pasta. I would eat pasta for every meal if I could, truly. Sometimes however, plain old spaghetti is just not enough to do the trick. I first saw this recipe for Cowboy Spaghetti on the Rachael Ray show a couple of years ago. It looked pretty good so I decided to try it that night and it was an instant hit. I love the fact that it is quick and easy and that it is pretty family friendly in that it is close enough to regular spaghetti that it will please pretty much anyone but it also adds a new kick.

Now for those of you up in good old North Bay, you will probably not be able to find the fire-roasted tomatoes the recipe calls for, don't worry I have used plain old diced tomatoes for years and just added a bit of extra hot sauce and it still came out super yummy.

Cowboy Spaghetti
from Rachael Ray's website

1 lb spaghetti
Salt & pepper
3 slices smoky bacon, chopped (I used the thick cut stuff)
1 lb ground sirloin
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup beer
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes (14 ounces)
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
4 scallions, chopped

Begin by boiling a large pot of water for the spaghetti noodles.

For the sauce, add the chopped raw bacon to a deep skillet and brown for about 5 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon for later use. Add the ground beef to the remaining bacon fat and brown for 5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic as well as salt and pepper to taste, the hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Mix everything up and then pour in the beer and deglaze the pan (scrape up all the yummy bits sticking to the bottom). Cook another 5-6 minutes then stir in the fire-roasted tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add the cooked noddles, mix to combine. Dish into pasta bowls and top with cheddar, bacon pieces and scallions and serve!

Enjoy! It is super duper yummy!!

*note: If your family is anything like mine...you might have a few bacon fans and sometimes these fans tend to use quite a bit when it is available as a topping. I just threw the bacon pieces in with the sauce and noodles before mixing. You can do this as well, or just make extra bacon, your choice but it doesn't change the taste either way...

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