← Nouns Cooking · Greek

Ingredients

• 500 g beef (or lamb) mince
• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 120 ml dry red wine
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 allspice berries
• 1 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 150 ml Water
• 500 g Spaghetti
• 30 g Butter (optional)
• 60 g kefalograviera, mizithra or pecorino, grated
• Salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 5 min until soft. Add the garlic for 30 seconds.
2. Turn the heat up, add the mince and fry for 8–10 min, breaking it up, until browned and any liquid has cooked off.
3. Stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, then pour in the wine and let it bubble away for 2 min.
4. Add the tomatoes, water, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, bay leaf, sugar and some salt and pepper. Simmer gently, partly covered, for 30 min until thick and rich. Remove the whole spices.
5. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water until al dente and drain. If using the butter, melt it in a small pan until it turns nutty brown, then toss it through the spaghetti.
6. Pile the spaghetti onto plates, spoon the meat sauce over and finish with a generous handful of grated cheese.

Tips

• Browned butter on the pasta is the old-school taverna touch; olive oil keeps it lighter.
• Double the sauce and freeze half; it also makes a quick pastitsio filling.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

My Greek Dish OliveTomato Supergolden Bakes