Knees strong.
Arms airy.
Dad's spaghetti.
Congratulations, OP. That's quality parenting.
this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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Hell yeah dude, share that recipe
Fr. Can't just drop a post like this and not share.
Have posted the recipe in a comment on the post, enjoy!
Boil spaghetti. Add red sauce. Bunch of chez. Make cheesy garlic bread. Throw out spaghetti and just enjoy the cheesy garlic bread.
Thanks all for the positive comments!
The recipe I used last night was:
- 1/2 white onion finely chopped
- 1 red capsicum / pepper chopped to small pieces
- 3 colves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 x whole carrot finely shredded
- 1\4 cup sliced black olives
- 2 x whole red chillis finely chopped
- 2 tbl spoons of mixed Italian herbs
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 x jars of pasta sauce, any one you like. I'm not at the homemade level yet!
- 1 x small jar anchovies
- 500g beef mince or Spanish chorizo sausage
- 1 tblsp oil
Basic Steps: Cook the vegies in the oil, start with the capsicum/pepper, onion and olives then add the carrot, garlic and chillis once other veg is mostly cooked. Once all cooked, set veggies aside.
Cook mince or chorizo, once cooked add veggies, jars of pasta sauce, Italian herbs, ground pepper, anchovies (cut up with scissors) and mix together.
Add 1 cup of salted water from the water used to cook the pasta, stir and let simmer on low heat for 5 mins.
Serve on top of spag noodles, don't mix together! I add about 50g of butter to the noodles to stop them sticking and for taste. Add grated parmesan and chili flakes to taste.
Enjoy!
Noice.
Agree with the other poster, this looks fantastic, but swap out the pasta sauce for canned tomatoes, the juice and a bit of water and you'll be golden. As it cooks it will thicken.
Also, look for a "product of Italy" on the label if you are in the US. They'll cost about 20% more, but you'll avoid all the preservative garbage that makes the sauce.. icky.
Sounds like you might be at the homemade level... Just buy canned tomatoes instead of the sauce, I think you might be surprised. The rest of your recipe is pretty complete.
I believe you would have to cook the tomatoes though as that’s the whole point of marinara and similar sauces. So canned tomatoes but simmer them for a while, maybe?
that's pretty much grumpa's recipe for a 10 minute sauce that no one believes i didn't stew the tomatoes all day and then strain them
I usually add butter and half an onion (literally cut in half, I take it out at the end). I learned that from an old NYT recipe. Amazing flavor.
saute your meat first, add as many of your spices to it as you can (the oregano, the garlics, the basil, the aniseed (only use a pinch but this is the secret ingredient. i tried subbing fennel and it'll work in a pinch, but aniseed is better). we usually use ground beef or hot italian sausage, whatever's cheap. maybe add the garlic a little later in the saute so it doesn't burn but the fats from the meat should protect it). here's where i'd do the onion and butter if i was adding them (and my wife's variation does and it's great, but it's not my version)
when the meat is browned, deglaze the pan with some red wine. (like what, a 1/4 cup? a splash? i don't know. i'm not an expert. deglaze it). once that's done, pour in your passata/tomato sauce.
add your bay leaf to the tomato, let the tomato sauce come up to a simmer. taste the sauce, adjust the spices. it's about where you want it.
your salt should come from your pasta water. about halfway through boiling your pasta there should be enough starch in the water. that helps the sauce bind to the noodles better. add 1/4 to 1/2 of the pasta water to your sauce.
when your noodle is almost al dente but not quite, add the noodle to the sauce. let it finish cooking in the tomato sauce. it will cook slower and be easier to get to the perfect al dente
i think i didn't forget anything but the measurements but you just figure out what those are with trial and error.
i like experimenting with peppers. my staple ground peppers are white, black, paprika and cayenne. i also always have red pepper flakes in every room in the house for pizzamergencies, so like which peppers we add is a mood thing. also been experimenting with using multiple types and preparations of garlic to see if i can get different depths of flavor from it.
Edit you know what I get asked how to cook this sauce often enough I really should save this somewhere
Oooh, thank you!
And I really like experimenting with peppers too! White pepper is currently my fave (can’t have chicken wings without it).
I like how white pepper disappears so we use it in our lemon butter
1 tbl oil
A whole table of oil?!
Preferably a 12 seater
yeah that's how you refer to them
not really, there is no standardized size of table for measurements like this
dammit i forgot where i was
Try using ground Italian sausage instead of hamburger sometime. Adds a lot more to the flavor profile.
i might disagree with you on being ready to do it by scratch. grab some passata or some cans of unseasoned tomato sauce to make it easy. premixed italian seasoning is just basil, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper. as long as you don't oversalt you can pretty much just eyeball it
When my mother left, my father really didn't know how to cook. He did his best but some dinners weren't so good. We got used to the 'nutty' taste of burnt chicken and potatoes. Me and my brothers complained all the time. The only compliment he got was when we asked for seconds or thirds. He took it well. I have a very different perspective on it now, years later. I can feel your success. Congratulations!
my father was a good cook, was an absolute ass and never cooked. "that's woman's work"
when mom had to start working for us to make ends meet, he was left home to cook dinner for us kids.
one night he made spaghetti. noodles done, but couldn't find any sauce. desperate, he just made his own with whatever we had on hand.
best damn spaghetti I have ever had.
I must have inherited his knack for it. I come up with some wild dishes that actually turn out pretty good. I cook weird comfort foods.
one time I made teriyaki coconut chicken with honeydew and cantaloupe.
we had chicken, and the melons were going bad so I had to use what I could. the coconut was just some coconut milk from a can.
pan seared/cooked the chicken in teriyaki sauce tossed in chunks of melon after they were cooked and let them soften up a bit. and then added about 1/4 can of coconut milk to simmer.
served with white rice. and it was pretty good.
desperate, he just made his own with whatever we had on hand.
I know those circumstances. It's amazing how good it can be with a few simple ingredients and a bit of skill.
Conversely, I made my usual crappy spaghetti and my teenage son still had thirds. I blame the teenage part.
What recipe did you use?
Have posted the recipe in a comment on the OP, enjoy!
Damn son, kids enjoying your food is a high that keeps me going all week. I once made fried rice and my daughter loved it, felt like dad of the year.
All y'all in here not posting recipes SMH
i'd love to, but my recipe is by eyeball for my family pasta sauce. half of the measurements are measured using [pour into your hand and make a circle about yay big] so like if you're in the SF bay area come over and i can teach you, but it's pretty hard to teach over text.
One day I may be brave enough to cook like that. I'm more of an "Erector Set" cook, but I'm getting closer!
my friend, my "secret" family recipe's initial costs are the spices. like, the bottles are more expensive than the actual spices because you can go get bagged spices for pretty much $1 an anything. then it's just the tomato sauce. experiment with one can until you have it, then scale it up to the size you need. try it without meat until you figure out the spice ratios, then cook it with meat. cooking is all just empiricism. trial and error. but you get to eat it. the only thing that will really make it inedible is salt. don't oversalt. I toss about a tablespoon of salt into my pasta water if i'm doing it that way, or if i'm salting my sauce i do maybe a quarter a teaspoon of salt per can of salt? I think? it's been a while. you do it by taste. but once you have the spices, the real expense for learning my sauce is the cost of the canned tomato. $20 and attention to detail should do it.
next time i make it i'll try to pay attention to the volumes of the spices i use and try to get measurements. the one i am sure of, the aniseed? try to get the same area as a dime. I'm not sure radius or measurement that is. measure it out on your palm, the same size circle? roughly that many aniseeds per can of tomato sauce. i will try to fit it in a lunch this week, if not it will be next week at the soonest
if you can't tell, i love talking food. if you try making it and have any questions (like "i tried making it and it tasted like licorice what the hell") I'm here
Great job!
Spaghet à la dad is a cherished recipe in this house.
Dude I made a Mexican food casserole the other day for the first time and my firstborn asked me to make it again, best feeling. High five brother
Thats the equivalent of a Nonna not complaining about your food. Well done!
You are a god amongst people.
Good Dad! ⭐
Good Dad skills.