October 4 Meal: A Little Butter Never Killed Anyone, Right?

Mmm, I was really looking forward to this night.  Nothing can get your through a Monday like the thought of Spaghetti and Meatballs and Caesar Salad with Sourdough Croutons.  Spaghetti is one of the best comfort foods.  Meat, red sauce, and some pasta and you are good to go.  This recipe wasn't quite that easy, but packed the same comforting punch.  In fact, this recipe may even be considered more comforting because of the addition of butter...yes, butter....to the sauce.  When I told Shaun that this recipe (which said it would be for 6 main-course servings) had 1 stick of butter in it I got some push-back.  I told him that it was less butter per serving than most desserts we eat, but he said "This is dinner, not a dessert."  Still, I pressed forward, reminding him that it was his idea that I follow the recipes exactly how they are printed.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
The first order of business was the sauce.  I've been storing away tomato products and fruits for the winter like a squirrel, so I had plenty of diced tomatoes ready to go.  The tomatoes went into a large saucepan with 4 onion halves, salt, and the stick of butter.  That combination simmers for 45 minutes.  The onions are discarded (again with this "wasting" of food!  See October 3 Meal post.) and the rest is blended in the food processor.  The color ends up being a reddish-orange, not like the typical red sauce I've made before.

Meanwhile, I prepared the meatballs.  These are really the purpose for the meal, since they come from the commentary article "In Search of the Perfect Meatball."  This particular meatball has a combination of pork and beef, fresh bread crumbs soaked in milk, Parmesan cheese, Italian parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, and garlic. Once everything is combined the mixture gets chilled for a while.  Then the meatballs are formed and cooked in the pureed sauce.  Cook a little spaghetti up al dente, toss with the sauce, and viola!

Yumminess: 8 out of 10

Cost: Approx. $13 for 6 servings

Time: Bon Appetit said 1:30 hours of prep and 2:45 hours total.  It took me about 45 minutes of prep, 20 minutes of chilling time, and 30 minutes of extra cooking time for a total of 1:35 hours.  I'm beginning to not pay attention to Bon Appetit's suggested times.

Was it worth it?: Yes!  These were really flavorful meatballs.  I will change-up the sauce next time, though.

Caesar Salad with Sourdough Croutons

I'm a Caesar Salad fan, but I feel like restaurants get it wrong usually with too much dressing and Parmesan.  This is a great solution for those of you like me.  The dressing is refreshing and delicate, not overpowering.  It contains anchovies, garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan, and olive oil.  As I'm writing this I realize it sounds anything but delicate, but somehow these things combine to make a lovely little dressing.  Add it to some chopped romaine, a little extra Parmesan, and sourdough croutons (store-bought or not, I made mine from a loaf of sourdough bread and froze the rest for later).  Another yum!

So there we had it, the perfect comfort meal.  It was delicious, but as we neared the end the richness of the butter in the spaghetti sauce was somewhat overpowering us.  I felt like I needed to go walk a few, or two or three.  Thus, I've decided that I will keep the meatball recipe, which was great, but swap out the sauce for something lighter.  The one nice thing about the sauce was that the fat made the noodles stickier and much easier to eat.  Also, to be fair, when I ate smaller portions for lunch afterward it was a lot more pleasant.

Yumminess: 10 out of 10

Cost: Approx. $5.50 for 3 servings

Time: Bon Appetit said 25 minutes of prep and 1 hour total.  It took me about 20 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cooking time (including making the croutons), for a total of 35 minutes.

Was it worth it?: Definitely!  I loved this salad.