Dad's Spaghetti Sauce with Coffee

This dressed-up pasta sauce, made with lots of lean ground beef, onions, and mushrooms, contains a surprise ingredient -- coffee! Make plenty ahead of time, it gets richer after a day or two.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins
• Calories: 246 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 cup hot water
• 3 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds extra lean ground beef
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1 large green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 (4 ounce) cans button mushrooms, drained
• 1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce with garlic
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste, or to taste

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Place 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a saucepan over medium heat, and cook the garlic in the oil for 1 minute. Stir in the onions, and cook until translucent, about 5 more minutes. Stir in the green bell pepper, and cook until the pepper begins to become tender, about 5 more minutes. Set the vegetables aside.n

Step 2

Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook and stir the ground beef until the meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Break the meat up into crumbles as it cooks. Mix in the mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste (if you prefer a thicker sauce), and vegetables. Bring the sauce to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the flavors have blended, about 30 minutes.n

Step 3

Mix the coffee granules into the hot water, and pour into the sauce; simmer for 30 more minutes.n