After much deliberation (in which I hemmed and hawed over the menu so much that SP wanted to rip his hair out) we decided to keep with our original plan for spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. SP was in charge of the sauce, which he cooked all day using up various odds and ends from the fridge, including an orange pepper, onions, shallots, garlic, both canned and fresh tomatoes and some oregano.
I made the meatballs the way I always do with a mixture of ground beef, pork and veal, bread crumbs, egg, fresh parsley, garlic and pecorino cheese. I gave them a quick fry in vegetable oil before they finished cooking in the sauce. C & D brought a loaf of good crusty bread that I made into garlic bread both with cheese and without:
... using my special garlic parsley butter and three kinds of cheese (mozzarella, cheddar and pecorino). C & D also brought dessert, a rich tiramisu cake that had just the right balance of sweetness from the mascarpone cheese and kick from the espresso-soaked lady fingers:
An inside shot of all the layers:
SP also baked some cookies using a cookie-in-a-jar mix he got from a speaking engagement he did awhile back:
The cookies are oatmeal with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
That cake looks divine!
ReplyDeleteMy husband loves spaghetti and meatballs. He was begging me to make it for him this weekend, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it in this heat! Your's looks yummy!!!
ReplyDeleteday to day - It was excellent cake. I love tiramisu!
ReplyDeletefoodiedani - I know, it was hard for me to justify such a cold weather meal when it was so hot but it worked out OK in the end. We had the a/c on and ate smaller portions. :)
I did it! I started a food blog!
ReplyDeletealoshaskitchen.blogspot.com
thank you so much for the inspiration. :)
melissa - Yay! I'm so happy to have been your inspiration. :) I can't wait to check it out.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I had no idea your name was Melissa!
Plugra...baby...I wasn't that impressed. What do you like so much about it?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, C and I were on vacation last week to sunny Colorado...the scenery was stunning...the food, however, was only so-so. I was really disappointed with almost every mean I had :( Except for the tomato bisque that we had at a little "pub" the last night we were there.
Oh well.
longhair - Plugra just tastes like pure butter (know what I mean?) If you have a suggestion for a similar butter I'm all ears.
ReplyDeleteI thought you guys were on vaca. when SP and I hadn't heard from either of you all week. I'm glad to hear it was stunning but that really stinks about the food. :(
Maybe my taste is off, or maybe I got a bad block. To me it tasted like (don't kill me) fancy margarine. I was hoping it would taste like the butter I remember from my granma's house. Perhaps it is the low salt content. Our block was wrapped in foil as opposed to waxed paper which is a sign that it has a lower salt content. Butter wrapped in foil compensates for the salt in keeping it from going rancid (thanks Alton).
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is the salt level. I'll give it another try on some pasta tonight.
longhair - Ewww...no way would we be excited about fancy margarine. All I can say is the block I got (also foil-wrapped) tasted like the best butter I'd ever eaten. When I used it in mashed potatoes the potatoes tasted like pure butter and you could actually smell the butter flavor wafting up with the steam. I'm telling you, it was heavenly.
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