Meat sauce

As every month's batch of meat seems to have at least two pounds of ground beef, I needed to do something a bit different from what we've been doing so far: meatballs, meatloaf, tacos...and while this recipe isn't much of a departure from the norm, it's easy to do on a weeknight, and takes only a few ingredients, most of which are already in the kitchen cabinet.

I served this with a small amount of pasta - about 1/2 a pound to the whole recipe, and the recipe yields 4 servings. This is not a very saucy pasta sauce. I could see adding some zucchini to the mix with the tomatoes if they were laying about, but since this isn't zucchini season, that's not likely to happen. Eggplant would be a possibility, too, as would substituting sausage for the ground beef. To increase the volume, one could also add a second can of tomatoes; in that case, also increase the garlic, salt, and oregano to taste.

Weeknight Meat Sauce
Serves 4

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1 lb ground beef (medium or lean)
3 cloves garlic
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes, or pureed tomatoes - whatever is on hand)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried oregano

Heat olive oil in wide pan. Once hot, add the onions; stir briefly, then add the beef. Break up the meat into small pieces. Saute the meat and onions until meat is browned and onions are softened. Add garlic; cook until fragrant. Add can of tomatoes. If using whole tomatoes, cut up the tomatoes into small pieces (I do this in the can with a pair of scissors). Add salt and oregano. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the excess liquid has evaporated. Cover and keep warm until pasta is ready. Taste; the mixture may need more salt. Season to taste.