Start Your Year Off Right: Slow Cooker Spaghetti

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

There’s nothing like stepping through the door when there’s an Italian dish brewing. With its garlicky, rich olive oil, hint of tomato undertones, Italian food has that magical way of making the whole house smell absolutely fantastic.

Even better is when the house smells great from surprisingly little effort on my part. Spaghetti sauce is one of those items of which I’m much more likely to just open a jar at the last minute versus planning ahead to allow for the requisite hour(s) of simmer time that make it taste like true Old World Italy would have it. The times when I’ve rushed it (tossed in some crushed tomatoes or tomato puree), dinner’s been edible, but just not as outrageously fantastic as it could have been, lest I had more time before dinner had to be on the table.

Spaghetti is one of those foods that’s been the subject of a major love affair since Marco Polo’s time (13th century). Pasta itself is an ancient food that was not only an Italian specialty but also appeared in Etruscan tombs dating all the way back to 4th century B.C. But Italy didn’t get dibs on this foodstuff: the Chinese were chowing down on it since 3,000 B.C., and Greek mythology claims that the Greek God Vulcan created the device that gave us dough in that long-string form. Now that’s some good ancient eating!

Sure, pasta has been the rage for eons, but how did it meet up with its perfect mate, the tomato? Apparently, it all began in 1519 when the explorer Cortez introduced tomatoes to Europe from the New World. Now, they weren’t cooking them in sauce yet, mind you—they were first only grown as a decorative plant. Since nightshades were cautiously revered as being poisonous (and the leaves and stems really are), it was quite some time until the actual tomato itself was realized to be fully (and safely) edible. By that time it was the 18th century, and there was no turning back after Thomas Jefferson got a taste of pasta while in France. A pasta-making machine was sent back to America to keep him in good supply of this delicious new food. After that, it was only a matter of time until commercial outfits started churning out this tasty delight (literally: the first factory used horse-powered machinery).

Now, the ubiquitous meatballs are a different story: they’re an addition that’s relatively newer, since meat was less abundant in those days. But in time, their affordability and their popular flavor made them a common addition. Meatballs or not, spaghetti is still a favorite for many today.

I’ve made this recipe several times with different variations: with crushed tomatoes, with tomato puree, with meatballs, and without meatballs. There really is no way to go wrong with this since you can adapt and vary the additions and the flavor accents (up the garlic, add onion, add Parmesan). Adding meatballs can be as easy as tossing in the number you’d like from a bag of pre-made ones in your freezer—or if you’re limited to ground meat on hand, add a few seasonings, some bread crumbs and briefly brown them in some olive oil on the stove top before tossing them in, knowing they’ll finish cooking during the sauce simmer time.

There’s just something about that garlic, olive oil and tomato combo—it’s one of the most whet-your-appetite smells on the face of the planet. And there’s nothing better than coming home (or opening the door from one’s home office!), and being met with the smells of an Old World Italian kitchen. Best of all, finishing dinner is as simple as boiling a pot of water and pasta! Now there’s a winning way to start the year.

Serves/Makes: 8

• 2 cans (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (12 ounce size) tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil