Irish Italian Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 1 chopped onion
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 dash cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce or Frank's hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can tomato soup
• 8 oz spaghetti
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Steps:

1. Brown onion in olive oil; add meat and seasonings and brown. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

 
2. Add soups and cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

 
3. While sauce is simmering, cook pasta; drain and rinse. Arrange on a platter

 
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4. Pour sauce on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Jess
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts

November 11, 20200 found this helpful

I did a quick Google search on Irish Italian spaghetti and there is a lot of information out there. It sounds like it was originally from the magazine Better Homes and Gardens from the late 30s, becoming very popular in the 40s.

There are many versions out there but they all consist of a sauce made from ground beef and a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup and one of tomato soup. Although Campbell's tomato soup has been manufactured since the 1890s, cream of mushroom was released in 1934 so was relatively new at that time.

There were a lot of creative recipes using condensed soup after the Great Depression and through the war years. No idea what makes it Irish but I guess it is just to be clear that this is not strictly an Italian spaghetti recipe or maybe to highlight the frugality of the recipe.

Sounds like a good fall dinner. I have made a lasagna that uses cream of mushroom soup in layers with spaghetti sauce. I imagine the flavor would be pretty similar.