Thursday, November 19, 2009

By popular demand: Noel's Spaghetti





You can this and other
Piper family recipes in
Treasuring God in Our Traditions.



Noël’s Spaghetti

This is a family favorite, the choice for most birthday dinners, and a perfect make-ahead. I make a huge batch—for about 15 adults. The recipe can easily be cut into thirds.


  • 3 pounds ground meat (beef or turkey or combination with Italian Sausage)
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 T whole oregano
  • 1 T basil
  • 1 T garlic powder
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • 2 T salt
  • 2 T Worcestershire Sauce (if you have it)
  • 3 T dried parsley
  • 1 large onion (or 1/3 cup dry onion flakes)
  • 6-10 drops Tabasco Sauce (optional. Doesn’t make it hot, just gives a slight zing)
  • Institutional size can Tomato sauce (or six-seven 15-oz cans / or combination of tomato sauce & canned tomatoes)

Brown meat. Drain well. Stir in flavorings. Add tomato sauce. Simmer at least ½ hour.


For freezing ahead: Often I freeze the cooked meat/spices combination and then when I'm ready to use it, thaw and add the tomatoes. Takes up lots less space in the freezer than sauce.


Noël’s secret to non-sticky pasta.


(And you can make it the day before. )

(Pasta purists, just look the other way.)


  • Cook pasta until done, but not overdone.
  • Strain off hot water.
  • Immediately rinse with cold water until noodles are cold, and strain off the water.
  • With hands, mix in oil to coat all the pasta. (about 2-3 T per pound)
  • Cover well until ready to use.
  • Heat in microwave.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you! This post reminds me of the Noel Advent Calendar. I am really hoping that it will be available for 2010! I've been searching for it for the last 3 years, ever since reading your book :). Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help get the new version ready.

Anonymous said...

We shall call it "Piper Pasta"!!!

Bobbi said...

fantastic recipie, I made it tonight and everyone enjoyed it. I was thinking it should be called Piper Pasta too!