Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Spaghetti Supper for Four

January 12, 2014

Menu
Madelyn's "Spaghetti Genovese"
No-knead Sourdough Bread
Garden Salad
Recipes


I didn't like spaghetti, or pizza, until well after I had graduated from college. I think it was the tomato sauce that I found objectionable. Whenever my mom made spaghetti for us at home, my oldest sister, who also didn't like it, and I would have a sandwich. Now, however, I enjoy a good plate of spaghetti. Don't know about my sister.

We had just returned from a wonderful two week vacation in New Zealand. Our son and his partner, Karley, have been living there for over a year and this was the first time we have had the whole family together in quite some time.


Before we left we had done a great job of cleaning out the refrigerator, so upon our return there wasn't much at home for us to eat. We left some meat loaf and frozen mashed potatoes in the freezer so we could have a meal upon our return without making a trip to the store, and this worked out very well for us. The reheated meat loaf and  potatoes were good; this wasn't a surprise for the meat loaf but it was the first time we tried freezing mashed potatoes.

Our daughter, Caryn, was home for winter break (she went to New Zealand with us) and her new boy friend, Vince, was visiting for the first time (he did not go to New Zealand with us). Caryn had requested spaghetti with meat sauce before we left for New Zealand. Not only did this sound good to me but it would easily feed the four of us with plenty left over for meals during the following weeks; the meat sauce freezes very well.

This is one of my favorite cool-weather dinners: pasta with a hearty well-seasoned sauce accompanied by a loaf of homemade rustic bread (I made sourdough bread by substituting ¼ cups of sourdough starter for the yeast in my go-to recipe for almost no knead bread.), butter, a simple salad, and full-bodied red wine.  How could I have passed on this at home all those years ago?