Giovanni’s Spaghetti & Meatballs

Here are two versions-one quick & one the right way. I was in a hurry and had to get dinner on the table fast. Ingredients: Meat Balls

1. Ground Meat-whatever you like……..here I have Chuck.

2. Garlic……..plenty 3. Parsley

4. Bread Crumbs 5. Cheese-whatever you like……..here I have

an Italian blend. 6. Olive Oil 7. ½ cup-Milk 8. Nuts…….normally pine nuts 9. 2 Eggs 10. Black Pepper

Sauce

1. Garlic 2. Olive Oil 3. 2 cans-Tomatoes 4. Parsley……..a big gob 5. Italian Herbs e.g. Oregano, Basil, Thyme

Chop up a big gob Garlic, dump it in a nice green pan, pour in enough Olive Oil to cover the Garlic and put the heat on low. I put the heat on low because only a small part of my brain still works and I might go out to my garden to pick some herbs and burn the Garlic. Don’t let it cook more than just barely brown or it will get bitter. And then your neighbors will speak ill of you behind your back.

http://geriatricgourmet.com/files/Garlic_Preparation2.pdf

Bet the Wang doodle out of the Eggs.

Dump in about this much Black Pepper. I like

mine course ground.

Add a nice gob of chopped Parsley.

Dump in the Milk.

In Italy, You would use Pine Nuts (Piñon) and

when I am in New Mexico, I would too because they are so common and easy to find there. But I’m in Texas right now and when I looked in the

fridge, all I saw was Pecans……..which are common here. So I dumped in a bunch.

http://pinenut.com/blog/blog1.php?title=pinon-nuts-hard-shell-new-mexio-pinus-edulis-harvest-and-private-land-owner-pine-nut-lease-information&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Now dump in enough Bread Crumbs to cover

about ¾ of the mess in the bowel.

Now dump in enough Cheese to cover about ¾

of the Bread Crumbs. Here I have an Italian blend of Mozzarella, Cheddar, Provolone and

Asiago.

Blend

By now the garlic should be just a little brown. Strain it out of the oil. You can mix it into the meatball mess if you want or put it back in the

oil to make the sauce.

Pour about half of it into whatever you are going

to cook the Meatballs in. If you leave in the Garlic it will burn and life will become dreary

and sad.

Eventually you will probably have to get your

hands all messy. I hate this part. Now you have to gob in and mix the meat with the other mess.

Things like this e.g. Meatballs, Salmon and Crab Cakes etc. were invented by poor folks to stretch

the meat. I put in more meat than most other poor folks.

I use an ice-cream spoon to make the meatballs but if you really want them nice and perfect you

will have to use your hands.

My Meatballs are real raggedy assed because I don’t use my hands to make them nice. Keep turning them until they are mostly brown all

over.

Put the Meatballs on real low heat and start the sauce. Pour the Tomatoes into what’s left of the Oil. I’m lazy and stupid so I like to find things that already have seasoning in them…….in this case, Stewed Tomatoes with Italian Seasoning: Basil & Oregano. Put the heat on medium and

boil the water for the Spaghetti.

I put the parsley in the sauce last so it will keep

its nice green color.

Well pooh, the title of the recipe says Spaghetti but actually I much prefer Capellini (Angle

Hair). But if you use Spaghetti, your dog won’t even care.

Like I said at the start, I was in a hurry so I had to just dump some sauce right on the Meatballs.

Dump on a little Parmesan out of the green thing

that everybody criticizes.

And get it on the table.

Ok, I got away with it and now here is the right way.

It’s almost all the same except one step and I

had to make some more sauce.

Still lazy and stupid, I found some more cans of Tomato stuff with Italian seasoning. If you don’t have these, the basic sauce is just Garlic, Olive Oil, Tomatoes and Parsley with a few optional

Italian herbs e.g. Oregano, Basil, Thyme & Rosemary.

Here is the part that’s different this time. I still had plenty of Meatballs. Put them in the sauce.

Make sure they are covered by the sauce and

simmer (real low heat) this for a long time………………3-4 hours. Stir it around

occasionally so it doesn’t burn on the bottom and since you’re having a few glasses of wine, pour some in. Some Italians cook this all day

and some more the next day.

Then dump it all on the Pasta and add a little

Parmesan or Romano. The Oranges, Grapefruit and Lemons have absolutely nothing to do with this. I had picked them green on the coast and,

waiting for them to ripen; I thought they looked nice, so I put them in the picture.

And remember; don’t eat things that are rotten.