Make this: Beer Spaghetti

This past week our appliances were installed in our new kitchen. Wednesday night we decided to test run our new stove and made a recipe I came up with in college based on what we had in our pantry (since grocery store visits were few and far between during the renovation, our supplies were running low). 

I call this innovation Beer Spaghetti. I've got approximate amounts for things because it is all based on taste. 


The ingredients posing with my new stove:

 (note- still quite unfinished - the cord hanging on the wall goes under the microwave shelf that hasn't been installed yet. The counters are still plywood fabulous and the new ones are running behind)


The ingredients close up:

What you need:

Pasta of some sort (I use cavatappi sometimes and used some strange twisty thing this time, I like texture)

meat of some kind (if you'd like)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste (or if you're cool, some of that tube of paste stuff)

Spicy Mustard (like the squeezable sandwich stuff. yes.)

1 beer (preferably something normal and not a wheat/dark/IPA/etc - I used a Coor's from the fridge)

1/2 a yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced (we used 6 bc they were small cloves, use your judgement)

cheese for grating upon finishing (parm, romano, etc)


What to do:

1) chop your onion/garlic, get your supplies ready to go

2) boil your pasta

3) create your sauce - add in the can of crushed tomatoes and 1/2 the can of the paste (add in more to taste). squirt a bunch of mustard in, stir. add more to taste. add in 1/2 a beer. stir. add more to taste. add salt/pepper/seasonings of your liking (we used crushed red pepper, italian seasonings, and s/p)

4) add a meat if you'd like  - ground beef, ground sausage, chicken, whatever. We used chicken and it was delightful.

The product - a tangy version of spaghetti that was cheap, fast, and easy. 


AND I got these cool little guys at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. For someone who uses a lot of onion and garlic, these work well: