The Ultimate Greek Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Recipe – Makaronia me Kima
Indulgent and comforting: Greek Spaghetti with Meat Sauce is made with luscious ground beef and tomato sauce, along with cheese coated spaghetti in this traditional Greek dish.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- ⅓-½ cup extra virgin olive oil + 3 tbsp for the pasta
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2-3 cloves
- 2-3 allspice berries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 garlic cloves cut in half
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 pound ground beef 70% lean
- 1 can 14-15 oz or 400 g crushed or diced tomatoes or fresh tomatoes diced or grated
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- 1 package 16 oz or 500 g spaghetti (uncooked)
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 4 tbsp grated dried mizithra (Greek aged cheese) or Pecorino
- ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium size pot, add about ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, at medium heat and once the oil is hot, add the onion, cloves, allspice, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and a pinch of salt. Sauté until translucent. Add the garlic halves and sauté 1 more minute.
- Add the tomato paste and swirl with a wooden spoon, heating well. Add the ground beef, pressing it with a fork and heat until, it is crumbly and no longer red. Add the wine and cook until evaporated. Add the crushed tomatoes, 1 tsp fine sea salt, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 tsp sugar and 1 cup hot water, stir well. Lower heat and simmer for about an hour, checking water levels and adding a bit of hot water as needed. Once ready, add 1 tbsp of dry oregano, remove from heat, remove cinnamon stick, bay leaves and set aside.
- Boil pasta according to directions. Once pasta is ready, strain and add 1 tbsp olive oil and stir.
- In a large casserole dish spread half the pasta, sprinkle over the pasta 2 tbsp grated cheese, place a second layer of pasta and sprinkle 2 more tbsp of grated cheese. Sprinkle over some ground cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a little pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil until it starts to shimmer. Remove from heat and drizzle over pasta.
- To serve: Serve pasta in a dish and spoon over the meat sauce.
Notes
Make Ahead
You can make it 1-2 days ahead and reheat when ready to serve. To warm up the pasta preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C). Cover the pasta with aluminum foil and place in the oven for about 10 minutes, until pasta is warm.
To reheat sauce place in the pot over low heat and slowly warm up until a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Storage
Store in the refrigerator separately for 3 days. You can also freeze the sauce and pasta separately for up to 6 months. Defrost in the refrigerator before re-heating it.