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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Spaghetti with Meatballs


My simple Marinara Sauce, which is adapted from Mario Batali, who is my favorite cookbook writer (it's just that sometimes he asks for ingredients that are hard to come by in my small Midwestern town)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Spanish onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbs. thyme
2 medium carrots, grated
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or months in a freezer that does not have self-defrosting.
When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of sauce. Top with grated parmesan and meatballs.
The meatball recipe I love is: http://homemadelemoncake.blogspot.com/2010/01/monday-meatballs.html
This is comfort food at it's best, and both the sauce and the meatballs can be frozen, so all you need to do is make the pasta, and a green salad, and it is an easy mid-week dinner. I make several recipes of the sauce at once and freeze it in quarts--which is about what you need for one pound of pasta.

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