My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won’t eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn’t resist it. My father declared it a triumph. Later that night dad had my mom recount to him exactly what she did to make it. Thank goodness, because experience has shown that my mother’s memory for recipes has a half-life of only a few hours. Sure enough when we asked her to make it again a few days later (so we could get a good photo for this post) she had a hard time recalling the details. Diligent dad supplied a few notes and it all came back to her.

The main trick to this recipe? Sufficiently browning the meat. Which means using a cast iron frying pan on high heat, letting the ground beef cook in its own fat, and not stirring it, so that the meat has a chance to brown well.

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