The first thing I do is start the sauce, since it needs time to simmer. I start by pouring whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes into a mixing bowl to be crushed. I also take 1 cup of water and pour it into the can. Then setting those aside, I coarse mince about 7 good sized cloves of garlic.

Once I have these prepared, I heat ¼ a cup of olive oil, sprinkling in a generous amount of red pepper flakes. Once up to temp, I throw in the garlic. As soon as I hear the garlic starting to sizzle, I pour in the tomatoes. I also pour the water from the can into the bowl at this point, attempting to get as much of the liquid from the can into the sauce as possible.

After a quick stir to incorporate the ingredients, I add a healthy amount of salt, black pepper and oregano. I use 1 teaspoon of salt, but just look at the density of spices covering the surface of the sauce as a measure for the pepper and oregano. I do two passes for the black pepper and one for the oregano, before stirring them in. Once the sauce is starting to bubble, I add some fresh basil and let it wilt.

Now that the sauce has started to simmer, I add about ¾ of a pound ground beef to a skillet. While it’s still a block, I season one side with salt and pepper. While keeping an eye on the sauce and stirring occasionally, I let the meat start to brown. After the bottom is starting to take on color, I flip the meat and start to break it apart with a spatula. I like varying pebbles of beef in my sauce, so I continue to use the spatula to break things apart when I agitate the beef. Once satisfactorily browned, add the meat to the sauce that has been simmering.

Once the meat has been added to the sauce, I lower the temperature and start preparing the noodles. At this point I just stir the sauce occasionally, while waiting for the noodle water to boil. Once boiling I add some salt to the water and the noodles. I usually only do a third of the noodles as fresh noodles make a big difference to me, and I don’t have a microwave to easily reheat the leftovers. Once in, I follow the package's instructions, which is usually to boil the noodles for about 10 or 11 minutes.

Once that timer is up on the noodles, I turn off the heat on all burners and strain the noodles. Then I top my noodles with sauces in a large bowl, mixing to evenly coat them in sauce, and put the excess sauce in a container to be preserved and eaten later.