This was a test at home of a one-pot spaghetti recipe which I think will work well on our next Boundary Waters canoe trip.  It is called “dirty” because it includes a variety of vegetables and does not include any tomatoes.  A key change I made from the original recipe in AllRecipes was to use surplus Italian sausage which I had on hand as a substitute for the 2/3 ground beef 1/3 chopped andouille sausage in the original.  (The Italian sausage worked well and is a contrast to the ground beef in another Boundary Waters standard, South Texas Ranch Chili Mac – Dehydrated for Camping. )

In this posting, I am showing how to made it at home.  For camping, I will dehydrate the ingredients in two groups, the Italian sausage in group 1 and the vegetables and seasonings in group 2.

For 4 servings

12 oz. bulk Italian sausage

1-2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1.5 cups diced bell pepper

½ cup diced celery

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. dried thyme

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 cups beef broth

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

8 oz. spaghetti, broken in two

Salt to taste

Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese to serve (optional

In a deep skillet brown the Italian sausage over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces.  Remove the browned sausage to a bowl leaving the fat in the pan. 

Estimate how much fat is left in the pan and add enough olive oil to bring the total to about 3 Tbs.  Add the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, and the browned bits have been all scraped off the bottom of the pan. 

Add the spices and cook for another 2 minutes. 

Add the cooked Italian sausage, the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil. 

Add the broken spaghetti and stir to mix it in.  Cook, stirring frequently until the spaghetti is al dente, adding additional water as necessary.  The idea is to make a sauce, not a soup, so only add the water as needed.  Check seasoning.  (How much salt is needed will depend on how salty the beef broth is.)  Serve with the optional grated cheese.