Recently I had the funniest dream. I received a formal, engraved invitation to attend Thanksgiving dinner with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Wow! I arrived at the palace wearing long white leather gloves and a full length, scarlet red velvet gown. A long table set with white linen, china, crystal, silver, candelabras, and flowers awaited me. I sat down and on my gold-rimmed plate was —a big mound of spaghetti!! What? No pheasant under glass? Yes! Spaghetti can be fit for a queen or a king, if it’s out-of-this-world delicious.
My friend, Jerry, has a fabulous, easy spaghetti recipe that his mother made when he was growing up and it is out-of-this-world delicious. The recipe has just a few ingredients and takes only about fifteen minutes to prepare. This spaghetti could become one of your favorite “go-to” recipes; the one you make when you want something delicious to eat NOW and don’t want to think about it. How can simple spaghetti be sooooo tasty? The secret is the Golden Mushroom soup.
E-Z Spaghetti
Half a pound fresh mushrooms, or two 4-ounce cans
Two tablespoons olive oil or butter
One yellow or sweet onion, diced
Two cloves minced garlic (optional)
One pound ground beef (or ½ pound sausage and ½ pound ground beef)
One can Campbell’s Tomato soup
One can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
One tablespoon Italian herbs
½ pound spaghetti noodles
Salt to taste
I use my Dutch oven to cook this dish. Fill a big pot with water, add some salt, cook the noodles until al dente, and drain. Put the noodles back into the pot with some of the spaghetti cooking water (save some of it when you drain the pasta) and add a dab of butter or oil to keep the noodles from sticking together. Keep warm on low heat. If you use fresh mushrooms, slice them and sauté in olive oil or butter and set aside. Cook the meat and onions together until browned then drain the fat. Add the undiluted soup, the mushrooms, and the Italian herbs, and then give it a good stir. Bring it to a boil then simmer until it takes on a glossy appearance. That’s it!
I like to add the noodles to the sauce and combine it all together; the noodles absorb the sauce. If the mixture is too thick, add some beef broth, red wine or the pasta cooking water. Serve with parmesan cheese and top with chopped parsley —if you want to dress it up a bit. The soup must be Golden Mushroom. The more commonly available Cream of Mushroom won’t work in this recipe. You may have to special order the Golden Mushroom soup from your grocer. There you have it —spaghetti fit for a queen or a king!