Makaronia me Kima or Greek Style Meat Sauce

Adapted from these three recipes: https://www.thespruceeats.com/makaronia-me-kima-1705807 https://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/makaronia-me-kima-greek-pasta-with-meat-sauce/ https://www.errenskitchen.com/greek-style-meat-sauce/

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef (or turkey, or lamb or whatever. Use butter if it's low-fat.)

2 tablespoons olive oil, optional

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

4 leaves fresh mint chopped or 1 teaspoon dried mint (optional)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

28 oz can crushed or pureed tomatoes or tomato sauce

½ teaspoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon butter (optional but probably a good idea if using low fat meat, like ground turkey)

Garnish with grated Parmesan, Mizithra or Kefalotyri cheese.

1 pound pasta

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Cook the onion until soft, add the garlic, followed by the cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves, and dried oregano.

Cook to release the flavors. (30 seconds to 1 minute)

Add meat. Fry until fully cooked and no pink shows at all in the meat (about 8 minutes).

Add the tomato paste and stir into the meat.

Stir in the wine and allow to cook down.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, parsley(if dried), and fresh or dried mint (optional).

Stir together, season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

If using fresh parsley, stir in a few minutes before serving.

If using butter put it in to melt an stir in just before serving

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and serve topped with the sauce.

Notes

May 19, 2020. - Initial recipe construction. I made this from three different recipes, taking the best of all three and with an eye on not having to run to the store for herbs if I didn’t want to or can’t without getting COVID-19ed to death. All of this text is WITHOUT having made this yet.

Here’s my thoughts before I’ve made this for the first time. Two of the recipes call for a 15oz can of tomato whatever, which will result in a thicker sauce, but also add water. (¼ cup mostly). I am using the 28oz can of tomato whatever, because that’s what I usually have in the house. If you want it thicker, use the smaller can. Whatever floats your boat.

A couple notes on spices and herbs. Apparently there are regional variations of this, some without allspice, some with, some without mint, some with. Some without cloves, some with. They all have cinnamon. These spices are a heated topic about what is “authentic.” I’m not Greek, and while I want authenticity, I’m not married to it. So for this first iteration of this recipe I’m going for maximal spices. If it's too much or whatever, I’ll cut it back or eliminate a spice. The only spice I think is a must-have for authenticity is the cinnamon. I’ve also included the dried and fresh version of some of the herbs, so this can be a pantry-raid kind of meal without having to go to the grocery store for fresh mint or parsley.

RESULTS

Okay I made this a few days later. Its not a bad recipe, I think it turned out the way it was supposed to. The flavors were good, the sauce had a good consistency. Here’s the thing: Neither of us think it was that special. The spices were not too strong, but honestly, it wasn’t better than regular Italian spaghetti sauce. I imagine if you grew up with something like this, you may be over the moon with it. For us, it was good but not worth making again.

Query

Anybody else make something like this? I don't think there is anything wrong with the recipe, its just ....meh. I was trying to meld it a bit for authenticity. I don't have any pics of the result....plus it just looks like red sauce on spag. Comments on recipe construction welcome!

submitted by /u/gedvondur
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