Spaghetti tacos
Time: 1 hour | Difficulty: 1/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight meal
My mom used to make this spaghetti with meat sauce about once a week. At some point, inspired by the iconic Nickelodeon show iCarly, my brother and I thought… what if we put the spaghetti…in a taco shell?? Thus, the real-world spaghetti taco was born. It’s an amazing combo! The noodles are slippery and the meat sauce is rich and tasty and it’s all surrounded by a crunchy corn shell that adds texture (and a fun, messy way to eat spaghetti). This was actually one of the first things I cooked for myself many moons ago—before I left for study abroad in college, my mom gave me the recipe for the meat sauce and I was amazed at how simple it was. You don’t even have to make your own tomato sauce. I’ve made a few adjustments, keeping it all in one pot and adding milk (yes, milk) like you would for a real bolognese. This recipe makes 3-4 servings so you can have leftovers—you can make them interesting by changing up the pasta each time, or adding taco shells. But feel free to cut it in half if you don’t want so many leftovers!
Ingredients/Tools:
1/2 lb ground beef
Half an onion, chopped (I like to slice up the other half and keep it in the fridge, as a gift to future me)
Half a green bell pepper, chopped
Half a red bell pepper, chopped (stay tuned for another recipe with the leftover halves!)
2 gloves minced garlic
White wine
Milk
Tomato paste
Jarred tomato sauce
Spices: Cumin, chili powder, paprika, sugar
Spaghetti (remember that one handful is about the serving for one person!!)
Hard taco shells
A big pot
Method:
Boil water for pasta, and add the spaghetti when it’s boiling.
Add lots of olive oil and a bit of butter to a big pot. Add the onions and garlic, and heat until the onions are getting soft.
Add in the peppers, sauté until soft.
Add in the beef. Let some of the moisture cook out. Add salt, pepper, and all the spices except the sugar.
When the meat is browned, add a big splash of white wine and let it cook out. Then add about a tbsp of tomato paste, then a smaller splash of milk.
When it’s all well combined and cooked, add in enough jarred tomato sauce to cover it all, and simmer it together for a while. Add a bit of sugar at the end to taste.
Combine the pasta and some sauce in a separate bowl. To stuff the shells, twist the spaghetti on your fork and tuck it in, then layer the meat sauce inside.
Add parmesan at the end, and enjoy with lots of napkins and a fork on the side!