Pasta with Mozzarella Tomatoes

Just about this time of year, you start thinking...what am I going to do with all that basil in my garden?  And what I am going to do with all those gorgeous local tomatoes?

I think I have the answer.  First step: find a big hunk of the best mozzarella cheese you can get your hands on.  The softer and creamier the cheese, the more deliriously happy you are going to be...it's a direct connection.  Creamy cheesiness = happiness.  Next, go get yourself a few of those nice tomatoes...



...and some of that basil.  I have some if you need any!



Okay, here we go.  Cook up some spaghetti, and while it is boiling away, get your tomatoes ready.  Slice them up in nice thick slices, and season them with a little salt and pepper.  Place them on a baking sheet and cover them with some slices of that great mozzarella you found, along with a little parmesan. 

Meanwhile, heat up some olive oil with some chopped garlic and red pepper for a couple minutes...don't let the garlic get too brown.  As soon as it starts smelling like garlic heaven, you're good.  When the pasta has about 2 minutes to go, pop those tomatoes into the broiler until the cheese starts getting gorgeously brown and bubbly. 

Now it's time to put it all together.  Toss the pasta with that delicious garlic oil, some chopped basil, a little more salt and pepper, and then slide those cheesy tomatoes on top.  A few more basil leaves and Parmesan just to send you completely over the edge, and you are all set.  Tomato season, I adore you!

 Pasta with Mozzarella Tomatoes, from Real Simple

• 12 ounces spaghetti
• 3 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), each cut into 4 thick slices
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for the baking sheet
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce), plus more, shaved, for serving
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving

1. Heat broiler. Cook the pasta according to the package directions; drain and return it to the pot.

2. Meanwhile, arrange the tomato slices in a single layer on a lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet. Season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Dividing evenly, cover the slices with the mozzarella and Parmesan. Broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. In a small saucepan, warm the oil with the garlic and red pepper over medium heat until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Add the garlic oil, basil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper to the pasta and toss to combine. Serve topped with the tomatoes, additional basil, and shaved Parmesan.

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Spaghetti with Fresh Clams

Now that the wonderful new Bon Appetit has shown me the light in terms of cooking pasta (click here for this new approach to pasta and sauce...it's life-changing) I am now going back to my old faves to try it out on them.  And one of my old fave is absolutely pasta with fresh clam sauce.  Briny, garlicky, slightly peppery sauce, with fresh clams.    I used littlenecks, but you can use manila clams as well.  You can apparently also use cockles.  (I wouldn't know a cockle if I bumped into one on Fifth Avenue, but if you do, then just know you can use 'em in this recipe.)

So, the basic concept is the same.  Cook your pasta...but not all the way.  Drain it when it still has about 2 minutes to go (and save some of the pasta water for later in the recipe).  Meantime, cook up your sauce...in this case you saute up some sliced garlic in olive oil, add some white wine and then steam your clams in this fabulous mixture until they open up.  Once they do, take out the clams with tongs and put them in a bowl. 

Now crank up the heat under that sauce and add a little pasta water...and add your almost cooked pasta.  It's going to finish cooking in this sauce, and while it's doing that it will absorb some of the sauce as it goes.  Oh yes. 

In the meantime, you can be heating your serving dish and/or your plates in a 200 degree oven.  I love doing this with pasta - the heat of the plate will keep your dinner nice and warm all through the meal.  In this case, I chose this particular serving bowl.

This bowl keeps me on the straight and narrow at the end of a long day, when I sometimes find myself standing in the kitchen thinking, now what was I doing again?

Oh yes.  Pasta.  Once the pasta is cooked, pour the entire thing into your warm serving bowl.  Add the cooked clams with any juices and toss it just a little to mix it all up.  Sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley on top, and drizzle just a teeny bit of olive oil over the whole thing.

I'm never going back, pasta-wise. 

Spaghetti with Fresh Clams (also known as Spaghetti Alle Vongole) with hugs and kisses to Bon Appetit

• Kosher salt
• 6 oz. spaghetti
• 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 lb. cockles, Manila clams, or littlenecks, scrubbed
• 2 Tbsp. roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season lightly with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
• Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, swirling pan often, until just golden. Add red pepper flakes and continue cooking 15 more seconds. Add wine, then clams; increase heat to high. Cover skillet and cook until clams open and release their juices, 3-6 minutes, depending on size of clams. As clams open, use tongs to transfer them to a bowl.
• Add 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to skillet; bring to a boil. Add pasta to pan. Cook over high heat, tossing constantly, until pasta is al dente and has soaked up some of the sauce from the pan. Add clams and any juices from bowl to pan, along with parsley, and toss to combine. (Add more pasta water if sauce seems dry.) Transfer pasta to warm bowls and drizzle with remaining oil.
   
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Velvet Pasta, aka Pasta al Pomodoro

Oh, I have so many many things to say about this innocent looking plate of pasta with tomato sauce, so hunker down with me for a little while.

First of all, I got it from the latest edition of the magazine Bon Appetit.  Now, I am a long-time friend of Bon Appetit.  I was with them back in the good old days, when they published more fabulous recipes than I could keep up with.  Then...as sometimes happens with long-term relationships, things got rocky.  (Note to Southern husband: I'm not talking about you, honey.  You are still the peas to my carrots and you always will be.)  Bon Appetit on the other hand...well, they got a little too fancy for a home cook like me.  I let my subscription lapse.  And then...there was a new editor-in-chief in town, and this May the new Bon Appetit launched, with this pasta dish on the cover.  And folks, I'm once again hooked...there are probably 10 different recipes from this issue that have migrated to the top of my "to-make" pile.  But what really sucked me in was their "Pasta Manifesto" - all the things you need to know to make perfect pasta.

Well, okay!  There's nothing that gets my attention like an article that suggests..with real, actual, concrete advice...that pasta can be made better.  So I jumped in with this recipe that claimed to be the silkiest pasta sauce ever.  And you know what?  It was.  The Southern husband actually decided that "silky" wasn't a good enough adjective for the wonderfulness...that it really should be called "Velvet Pasta."   Comments like that on an ordinary Monday night are when you know you have a hit on your hands.

The basics of this one are: you need to really salt the water before you add the pasta.  We aren't using enough salt in the water, people!  You need to undercook the pasta a little, and then finish cooking it IN THE SAUCE.  It makes total sense if you think about it.  There are a few other things about using some of the salty pasta water to thin the sauce, and adding a little butter at the end, and a few others that added up to a simple tomato sauce with pasta that was, well...velvet.

So what have I learned?

1. Salt the water.  Really salt it.  No fear.

2. Finish cooking the pasta for the last two minutes in the sauce.  I'm never going back.

3. Have faith that your favorite magazine/television show/etc. will come to its senses and get better.  Between Bon Appetit and this season's American Idol, I'm beginning to think anything is possible.

4. If you think your first shot isn't working, ignore your ravenous family, dump it on a new plate, take it outside and photograph it again.  Pasta reheats just fine.

I think my work is done here.  :)

Pasta al Pomodoro, from the fabulous new Bon Appetit

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes, puréed in a food processor
Kosher salt
3 large fresh basil sprigs
12 oz. bucatini or spaghetti
2 Tbsp. cubed unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino


1. Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-low heat. Add minced onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 12 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-4 minutes. Add crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute more.
2. Increase heat to medium, add puréed tomatoes and season lightly with kosher salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly and the flavors meld, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in basil sprigs, and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season with salt; add spaghetti or bucatini and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
4. Discard basil and heat skillet over high heat. Stir in reserved pasta water to loosen sauce; bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes.
5. Remove pan from heat; add butter and cheese; toss until cheese melts. Transfer to warm bowls; serve with more cheese, if desired. (Personally, I desired.  Just saying.)

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Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil

Okay, so I have to admit that it was the alternate name of this recipe that first sucked me in.  The regular title was Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil, which isn't too bad either, but in Italian it is called Spaghetti a LIMONE.  Just saying it out loud made me feel all cosmopolitan and exotic and international.  Then I read the description and was even more sold on it: spaghetti tossed with a light sauce of lemon juice, shallots, lemon zest and just a touch of heavy cream, thinned out with some of the pasta cooking water.  A little freshly grated parmesan and some fresh chopped basil and you are done.  I used a handful of globe basil from my Aerogarden...

...because the globe basil section of my Aerogarden is now so big that it needs its own zip code.  (You can read about my Aerogarden adventures by clicking here.  I am in herb heaven.)

Anyway, back at the LIMONE, which is a quick and delicious weeknight supper with just enough zing to keep you lively all through dinner.    Grab some lemons and give it a try!

Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil, from Cooks Illustrated

	Table salt
1	pound spaghetti
1/4	cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more for serving
1	medium shallot , minced (about 3 tablespoons)
1/4	cup heavy cream
2	teaspoons finely grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 3 lemons
1	ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus more for serving
	Ground black pepper
2	tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Reserve 1¾ cups cooking water, drain pasta into colander, and set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add shallot and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until shallot is softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk 1 1/2 cups of reserved pasta cooking water and cream into pot; bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove pot from heat, return pasta, and stir until coated. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
3. Cover and let pasta stand 2 minutes, tossing frequently and adjusting consistency with remaining 1/4 cup reserved pasta water if necessary. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, drizzling individual portions with oil and sprinkling with cheese.

Click here for printable recipe

Spaghetti Tacos!

So this all started with two things.  First was this show that I have only a dim awareness of...it is called iCarly, and it is usually playing somewhere in the background when the teenager is home, and when she isn't watching House or Glee (two shows that I actually have heard of and like and watch.)  Until last week, I hadn't given more than a split seconds-worth of thought to the fact that iCarly even existed in the world.

Then I read this article in the New York Times.

And it got my competitive juices flowing.  Apparently spaghetti tacos are enough of a phenomenon on this show that kids across the country are asking for them for dinner, thanks to whomever this guy is on the show.

Made the traditional way, I could see why parents are scratching their heads.  But just to be totally fair, I did put one of the classic versions together.

Classic - did I just say that?  Anyway, the "recipe" on the iCarly site calls for spaghetti, meat sauce and a taco shell.  And a spoon.  Creative, but not as tasty as it could be.  I pondered this a while, and then it came to me.  Way back before iCarly was even a twinkle in anyone's eye, the New York Times printed a recipe for something called Spaghetti on a Stick by the always awesome Mario Batali.  It called for making an easy but rich tomato sauce, some gorgeous meatballs, and cooking up a mess of spaghetti.  You douse the spaghetti with the fabulous sauce, swirl a pile of the spaghetti around a chopstick, stick a meatball on the top of the stick to hold the spaghetti in place, wrap the whole thing in a piece of soft flatbread for easier handling, and there you have it - Spaghetti on a Stick.  I made it once, and it was scrumptious thanks to the whole sauce and meatball wonderfulness...but the whole stick thing just seemed like more trouble than it was worth.  But then this whole spaghetti taco business rolled around and a lightbulb went off in my head.

What if I made the Mario Batali sauce?  What if I made the meatballs tiny?  What if I used soft tacos instead of hard ones?  With no stick?

NOW we're talking.

Maybe I need to watch more Nickelodeon.

Maybe not.

Spaghetti Tacos, with thanks to  Mario Batali's Spaghetti on a Stick

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Spanish onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
• 2 28-ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes
• Salt to taste

• 3 cups day-old bread, in 1-inch cubes
• 1 1/4 pounds ground beef
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
• 1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound spaghetti
• Flour tortillas

1.

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.

2.

Add the thyme and carrot and cook 5 minutes, until carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Simmer 30 minutes. Season with salt.

3.

Soak the bread in water for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water with your fingers.

4.

Combine the bread, beef, eggs, garlic, pecorino, parsley,  1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and mix with wet hands. Form the mixture into one inch meatballs.

5.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil on medium until almost smoking. Add the meatballs and, working in batches to avoid crowding, cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, cover and simmer all the meatballs for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

6.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions, until tender but still al dente. Drain well in a colander.

7.

Meanwhile, gently reheat the meatballs and sauce. Add the pasta to the sauce in the pan and toss until completely coated and pour into large serving dish.  Warm tortillas in microwave and serve with pasta, allowing folks to scoop out their own spaghetti and meatballs into tortillas.  

Click here for printable recipe

Pasta with Shrimp and Feta Cheese Sauce

This recipe is so quick and so easy and SO delicious, and it's all about one of my favorite appliances. The food processor. Yep, as long as you can boil water and push the on button, you are all set with this one, and that's my kind of dinner on a weeknight.

First the water-boiling part. Fill up a good sized pot with water and put it on to boil. While you are waiting for it to boil, cut up some tomatoes and toss them in a bowl. Any kind of tomato will do. I had some nice cherry tomatoes when I made this.

Ok, now comes the fun part. Toss the following into your food processor: scallions, fresh thyme, feta cheese, cottage cheese. Press the button until it is all nice and creamy, and then taste it to see if it needs any salt and pepper. Then scoop it into the bowl with the tomatoes.

Your water should be boiling by now. Drop your shrimp in and cook them for about 2 minutes, just until they are nice and pink. Without turning the water off, scoop them out with a slotted spoon, drop them into the bowl with the sauce and give it all a stir.

Drop some of this into the still-boiling water....



And when it is done, drain it, toss it with the sauce, and dinner is served. Grind a little fresh pepper on top, and nobody will ever know that this involved exactly one mixing bowl and a pot of boiling water. And your trusty food processor, of course!

Pasta with Shrimp and Feta Cheese Sauce

• 4 scallions
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
• 6 ounces feta cheese
• 9 ounces cottage cheese
• 12 ounces raw shrimp, shelled
• 12 ounces tomatoes, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 9 ounces spaghetti

1. Boil water for pasta.
2. Chop scallions and thyme together in food processor.
3. Add feta and cottage cheese to processor and blend until creamy.
4. When pasta water boils, add shrimp, cook for 2 minutes or until done, and remove from water with slotted spoon, keeping water at a boil. Add shrimp to cheese sauce.
5. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and add pasta to sauce, toss thoroughly and serve.

Click here for printable recipe

Spaghetti with Garlic Bread Crumb Wine Sauce

This is one of my favorite pasta recipes ever, and every time I make this one the Southern husband and I look at each other and say, why don't we make this more often? But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am VERY fond of how this looks, tastes, and is so very easy to throw together at the end of a long day.

And even better, odds are you have everything you need to make it at the spur of the moment. Any long strand pasta will do, although I think good old spaghetti works best. Bread for the bread crumbs -- any kind you have on hand. Butter. White wine. Fresh parsley. Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper. All stuff I highly recommend having in your kitchen at all times...and if you don't, I recommend going out to get whatever is missing JUST to make this delicious little dish, which is great on its own or as a side dish for grilled chicken or fish.

The sauce is made by melting up butter, garlic, white wine and a little salt. Meantime, you make the breadcrumbs by whirling whatever bread you have on hand in the food processor, adding a little butter and white wine, laying it all out on a cookie sheet and toasting it in the oven. Don't worry if your crumbs are a little mushy before they are toasted, I promise they will cook up to be golden and crispy, and you will have to have a stern talk with yourself about snacking on them before they go in the sauce.

Then all you have to do is cook the pasta and toss it with the sauce, some parsley and grated parmesan and those perfect little crumbs. Save some of the crumbs to sprinkle on top and give the whole thing a good grinding of black pepper. Comfort Food Extraordinaire.

SPAGHETTI WITH GARLIC BREAD CRUMB WINE SAUCE

• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (2 slices bread chopped in food processor)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with foil.

2. Mix bread crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons wine with salt in small bowl and spread in one layer on cookie sheet. (Don't worry if it's mushy).

3. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente.

5. Meanwhile again, heat butter, garlic, 1 tablespoon water and one teaspoon salt in small skillet for about 3 minutes until butter is melted and garlic is starting to turn golden. Stir in wine and simmer two minutes.

6. Toss together pasta, wine sauce, crumbs, parsley and cheese. Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Cincinnati Chili

So, those of you who follow me on Facebook know that pretty much every morning I post what I am making for dinner as my Facebook status. (This started when I first got my Facebook page and I wasn't posting any status at all. The teenager was aghast, and told me I HAD to post my status and change it every day, and dinner was the only thing I could think of that changed radically every day. That, my friends, is the scintillating life that I lead. Not that I am complaining.)

Anyway. Most days the Dinner Status gets a comment or two, or someone hits the "Like" button, especially if there is bacon involved. Then came the day that I changed my status to "making three-way Cincinnati Chili."

Oh my goodness. I think it is currently up to 19 comments and STILL going on, and that was a week ago. Everyone from my friend H, who is an AMAZING food writer and editor (and if you are looking for one of those, click here), to my friends C and D who are from or who are married to Ohio natives and so have first-hand knowledge of Cincinnati chili, to various folks just want to know what it IS. It was a Facebook/Chili free-for-all, and I loved it. Who knew chili was such a conversation-starter? But obviously this one is, so let me break it down for you.

1. Cincinnati chili is served on spaghetti. Not rice, spaghetti, and very well-cooked spaghetti. This is not the time for al dente.

2. Cincinnati chili does NOT have beans in it, unless you are having Five-Way chili. More on that later. It's complicated.

3. Cincinnati chili includes, among various other flavors and seasonings: CHOCOLATE. (I'm starting to understand the passion now.)

Now that we have covered that, let me explain the various ways you can have this particular chili.

THREE WAY: Chili, shredded cheese, spaghetti.
FOUR WAY: Chili, shredded cheese, spaghetti, chopped onions
FIVE WAY: Chili, shredded cheese, spaghetti, chopped onions, beans

My Ohio sources tell me that there is a variation on the FOUR WAY where you can swap out the beans for the onions. And that it is often served with oyster crackers. That is the sum total of what I know about this variation of chili, other that the fact that it is flat-out scrumptious, and if you let it mellow in the fridge overnight and have some the next day, it is even better.

So there you have it, Cincinnati chili, and all you Ohioans out there? Let me know if I got anything wrong, okay?

January 29 ADDENDUM!!

In my first-ever correction to a post, thanks to everyone who in various ways told me I was a big old skimper on the CHEESE. Here is a link to a chili advertisement that shows the correct amount of cheese. I promise to never, ever be a cheese miser again...

Skyline Chili

It takes a village...thanks, guys. :--)

CINCINNATI CHILI, from allrecipes.com

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 cup chopped onion 2 pounds ground beef 1/4 cup chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 bay leaf 1/2 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate 2 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 tablespoons cider vinegar 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1.	Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 6 minutes.
2.	Add beef, in batches if necessary, and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until browned.
3.	Add chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, cloves, bay leaf, chocolate, beef broth, tomato sauce, cider vinegar, and red pepper. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4.	It is the best if you now refrigerate overnight.
5.	Remove the bay leaf. Reheat gently over medium heat. Serve over hot, drained spaghetti. Top with shredded cheddar cheese for three way, add some chopped onions for four way, add some drained heated kidney beans for five way. Click here for printable recipe

Skillet Spaghetti and Meatballs

Who doesn't LOVE spaghetti and meatballs? But they are such a production, right? Browning the meatballs, warming the sauce, boiling the pasta...it takes every pot in the house. Right?

Nope.

This recipe makes a FABULOUS spaghetti and meatballs, but here is the beauty part...all in one skillet. And, because everything is cooking up together, the spaghetti soaks up a lot of the gorgeous sauce and meatball flavor, so instead of one sitting on top of the other, all three components are beautifully, harmoniously, delectably, delightfully intermingled. Sounds too good to be true, right? But I am here to tell you, it can be done. And without overloading your dishwasher, on top of everything else.

The basic premise is this: you sear the meatballs (which are made with that beef/pork/veal meatloaf mixture you can get in the supermarket, adding even MORE flavor) quickly just to brown the outside. Then you cook the pasta in a mixture of your favorite marinara sauce thinned with water, and when the pasta is halfway done, you nestle those happy little meatballs into the spaghetti for the second half of the pasta cooking time. 8 minutes later there you have it: perfectly cooked pasta and meatballs, imbued with tomato sauce and ready for the plate.

So if you have been longing for spaghetti and meatballs but have been exhausted by the very thought of it, this is your lucky day, because 30 minutes from now you can be sitting down to this super dish. Pass the parmesan cheese, please!

SKILLET SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

• 2 slices sandwich bread, crusts removed
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 pound meatloaf mix (the combo of ground beef/pork/veal)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups prepared marinara sauce
• 2 cups water
• 8 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1. Tear bread into small pieces and mix with buttermilk in medium bowl until it forms a paste. Add meat, cheese, egg yolk, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and mix. Form into meatballs, using 2 tablespoons of meat mixture per meatball.

2. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Sear meatballs on one side for one minute. Turn meatballs over to cook very briefly on the other side and transfer to plate lined with paper towel. Wipe out skillet.

3. Add sauce and water to skillet, add pasta and turn heat to medium high. Cover and cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes.

4. Nestle meatballs into spaghetti, seared side up. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 4 more minutes, stirring from time to time. Uncover and cook for 4 more minutes or until spaghetti is done, stirring gently from time to time.

5. Transfer to plates and sprinkle with basil and more Parmesan cheese.

Click here for printable recipe!

Spaghetti with Romaine and Fried Egg

I must say that when I first saw this recipe I was a little skeptical. Sauteed lettuce? Some things are not meant to be sauteed, thought I, but as always, my adventurous Southern husband jumped in and pointed out that you never know until you try, nothing ventured nothing gained, etc etc. And since you really can't go wrong with a recipe that features bacon, we gave it a shot.

You know what?

You never know until you try. It was really, really good.

So, for all you adventurous types out there who are not intimidated by a little fried lettuce, here is a recipe well worth trying.

SPAGHETTI WITH ROMAINE AND FRIED EGG

Serves 4

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 pound spaghetti
• 8 ounces bacon chopped into 1 inch pieces
• I head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 4 large eggs
• Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta in boiing salted water and reserve 1/4 cup pasta water. Drain and put in large bowl.

2. Cook bacon over medium high heat until brown. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate. Reserve bacon fat.

3. Add lettuce to skillet and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook 2 minutes until lettuce starts to wilt. Sir in vengar and transfer to bowl with pasta. Add pasta water and toss to combine.

4. Return skillet to medium heat. Add reserved bacon fat. Fry eggs until whites are just set and edges are golden, about 2 minutes.

5. Serve pasta topped with chopped bacon and then one egg per plate. Top with parmesan cheese and ground pepper.