Dirty Spaghetti
This is our griddle-style spin on the viral dirty spaghetti trend - and after making our Dirty Cabbage, we had to see if the spaghetti version could top it. It did. The trick is building flavor in layers: seared ground beef, rendered bacon and andouille fat, vegetables cooked down in that same fat, and a quick sauce finished right on the griddle using canned French onion soup instead of plain beef stock. A light dusting of flour on the noodles gives that thin sauce something to actually cling to, so every bite gets seasoned instead of just the bottom of the bowl. It comes together in about 30 minutes of actual cook time, and it eats like something that took a lot longer.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning for the ground beef
- 3 slices bacon
- 12 oz smoked andouille sausage quartered and then sliced into chunks
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 1 stalk celery diced
- ½ jalapeño diced (optional)
- 6-8 mushrooms sliced (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb spaghetti noodles
- salt for the pasta water
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ can Campbell's French Onion soup
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning *see notes
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Preheat the griddle or a large skillet. Heat the griddle or a large skillet to a medium heat. *The temperature setting will vary based on what griddle you are using, but for my 4 burner Blackstone, I started with the 2 outer burners on medium-high and the 2 inner burners on low.
- Cook the bacon. Lay the bacon on the griddle first - it takes the longest to render. Cook until crisp, then remove and set aside, leaving the rendered fat on the griddle. If needed, you can move the bacon to the side of the griddle to continue to cook while you cook the other meats.
- Boil the pasta. While the bacon cooks, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, then drain and set aside. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta water before draining.
- Sear the ground beef. On a hot section of the griddle, cook the ground beef, letting it develop a good sear before breaking it apart. Once cooked through, season with 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, then move to the side of the griddle (or remove from the skillet).
- Cook the andouille sausage. In a separate section of the griddle, cook the sliced andouille until browned and slightly crisped. Move to the side of the griddle. (Or remove from the skillet and set aside.)
- Cook the vegetables. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, jalapeño (if using), and mushrooms (if using) to the griddle in the residual fat left behind from the bacon and sausage. Cook until softened and lightly browned.
- Combine the meats and vegetables. Add the cooked ground beef and andouille sausage into the vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Set this mixture aside on a cooler section of the griddle, or off to one side.
- Cook the garlic. Clear a space in the center of the griddle and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon/sausage fat, forming a small pool. Add the minced garlic to the fat and cook for about 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Toss the pasta with the garlic. Add the drained spaghetti directly to the garlic and toss together on the griddle to coat.
- Add the meat and vegetable mixture. Add the cooked meat and vegetable mixture to the spaghetti and sauté everything together for about 2 minutes.
- Make a well and build the sauce base. Make a "well" in the middle of the pasta mixture so you can see bare griddle in the center. Add the tomato paste to the well and cook for about 1 minute to knock off the raw flavor. Add the French onion soup to the well with the tomato paste and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Season and finish the sauce. Sprinkle the flour around the outside of the well directly on the pasta, along with Cajun seasoning and the Worcestershire sauce. Then mix everything together thoroughly, and turn the griddle off.
- Loosen with pasta water. Add about ¼-½ cup of the reserved pasta water, stirring to combine. There should be enough residual heat on the griddle to finish cooking everything through and let the sauce reduce and cling to the noodles.
- Garnish and serve. Serve immediately, garnished with green onion tops and parsley if desired.
Notes
- For the Cajun seasoning - The amount of Cajun seasoning will vary slightly based on what brand you are using. Some Cajun or Creole-style seasonings are very salt heavy, so you would want to use less. We used 1 teaspoon of the mild Pi-Yahhhh seasoning from the Cajun Ninja to season the ground beef, and we used about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the Creole Blackening seasoning from Wide Open Foods (found at Kroger). We also recommend the Cajun Two Step from StaleKracker.