The Spaghetti Series - Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs (#5)

I love al fresco dining in the summer. I have a lovely patio that is just meant for it! Last weekend the weather was beautiful and sunny, and I had a quiet evening to myself to enjoy dinner outdoors as the sun set. My garden has started to take off, and I was able to use the oregano I am growing in my chicken meatball dish. I realized that I had not posted a classic spaghetti and meatball recipe on this blog yet, and I was quite overdue. Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs

Meatball Ingredients:

1 pound ground chicken

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups Italian style breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, making sure everything is fully combined. Shape mixture into 12 meatballs. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and cook meatballs until golden brown, 5 minutes. They will finish cooking in the sauce (recipe below).

Sauce Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 small onion, diced

5 fresh basil leaves, torn

1 28 ounce can of peeled plum tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat and add garlic and onions, sauteing until onion is translucent, 5 minutes. Add the basil and stir for another minute, allowing it to flavor the base of the vegetables. Add in plum tomatoes, squishing them with your hand before putting them in the pot with their juices. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, and wine, and let simmer for 1 hour on low heat. Add the meatballs 45 minutes into the cooking time and serve with your favorite spaghetti and fresh cheese on top.

The Spaghetti Series - Bacon Cheeseburger Spaghetti (#4)

After a long work week, I am craving comfort food.

I wanted to make a spaghetti dish that was easy since I am exhausted, but one I could also indulge in! What could be better than bacon cheeseburger spaghetti? I browsed the internet and found many variations of this, and I pulled ideas from each one. Some really took it literally and added pickles and such, but I was rather skeptical about that element. I also did not want to feel guilty about eating fatty red meat or dealing with the calories of a homemade cheddar cheese sauce, so improvised with ingredients!

The result? A perfect plate of pasta!

Bacon Cheeseburger Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 pound of 92% lean ground beef

salt

pepper

1 can of cream of cheddar soup

1 cup 1% milk

1 packet of onion soup mix

2/3 cup diced tomatoes in juices

3/4 pound cooked spaghetti

Bacon bits for topping

Directions:

1) In a large nonstick skillet, brown meat over medium heat, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2) In a large saucepan, combine soup, soup mix, milk, and tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add in meat and stir well, simmering another 2 minutes.

3) Add pasta to the large saucepan and combine pasta and sauce well.

4) Serve immediately with bacon bits crumbled on top.

Straw and Cheese (Spaghetti Series # 3)

Snowed in with about a foot outside my door, I was upset this late afternoon knowing I was missing out on making macaroni and cheese with my sister tonight - we had planned to make it together at her house for my family. Instead, I am home alone and craving the dish badly. I went to my kitchen and realized I had all the ingredients for my own macaroni and cheese. Not exactly the same, because I miss their company tonight, but at least I get my cheesy noodle fix!

I was grateful to have the time to leisurely browse recipes. I borrowed a little bit from here, a tad from there, and what I came up with was one incredible dish! Of course normally I would use elbows or fusilli, but this IS A Twist of Spaghetti, fellow foodies, and we need to stay true to our roots!

I am sipped a glass of Shiraz with this meal, and it certainly paired well! Cheers!

Straw and Cheese

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons flour

1 cup fat free half and half

1 cup shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon prepared mustard (I used Jack Daniel's Old No. 7)

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

3 slices of deli ham, sliced into julienne strips

1/2 pound cooked spaghetti, cooked 2 minutes less than directed

1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking dish

- Generously salt a pasta pot and bring to a boil; cook spaghetti as directed above

- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add flour, whisking for 5 minutes until you get a light caramel-colored roux

- Slowly add in milk and whisk for another 2 minutes

- Stir in cheese, mustard, paprika, cayenne, and salt.

- Drain spaghetti and reserve 1 tablespoon of the pasta water and add this to the sauce mixture

- Add pasta to the cheese mixture and gently fold in ham

- Melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a bowl in the microwave. Add the breadcrumbs and Romano cheese and mix well.

- Pour pasta mixture into the baking dish; place topping over pasta

- Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly

- Place oven on low broil for 2 minutes until topping is nicely crisp (a light brown color)

The Spaghetti Series - Sausage and Cream Sauce (#2)

A member of my supper club is one phenomenal cook (they all are), and I give her extra admiration since she balances cooking with three young boys...the youngest just a few months old! At our last gathering, she made two recipes from a cookbook called Creme de Colorado Cookbook that were out of this world. One was a Greek chicken recipe and the other was lemon bread. I could not stop eating either. They were delectable.

I then looked back and previous lists from gatherings and saw that she had made other recipes from the cookbook that were successful. It was all I needed to hit Amazon the following day! I ordered a used copy of the cookbook on Amazon and am thrilled with it. I admit I love climbing into bed before I sleep with a cookbook. Tonight's Spaghetti Series recipe comes from the pasta section of the cookbook. I had a vacation day today and it was good to be home and not have to rush through the aisles at the supermarket or wine store. I took my time, and this dish takes no time at all. It was great comfort food on a cold winter's night.

Pasta with Sausage and Cream Sauce (adapted from the Creme de Colorado Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (I used chicken)

2 cups heavy cream (I used half and half)

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh, minced parsley

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon dried sage (I added this)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

12 ounces of cooked spaghetti, cooked al dente and drained (I used angel hair)

salt and pepper to taste

Extra parsley and Parmesan for serving

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt butter. Stir in sausage and fry until brown. Remove sausage and drain grease. Return sausage to skillet and stir in cream, wine, parsley, nutmeg, sage, and Parmesan. Salt and pepper to your tastes. Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Place pasta in heated serving dish and toss with sausage sauce, topping with extra parsley and Parmesan.

The Spaghetti Series - All'Amatriciana (#1)

Lets face it: Monday's are as bad as those leftovers sitting in the back of your fridge for over a week.

In order to brighten Mondays up a bit, I decided to create a weekly piece known as The Spaghetti Series. Each Monday I will post a new dish made with spaghetti for readers. It will be something simple, since Monday nights one is usually rather exhausted, but flavorful and fun to make.

Tonight I begin the series with a sauce called Amatriciana - a traditional Italian sauce based on dried pork cheek, pecorino, and tomato - from the town of Amatrice. There are many recipes out there with many variations, so I took the basics and then made it my own. It had a wonderful heat to it for a cold winter's night, and of course bacon is one of the ultimate comfort foods (in moderation, of course!).

Spaghetti All'Amatriciana

Ingredients

2 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes

4 pieces of unsmoked bacon, center cut

2 medium onions, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

2 cups of dry white wine

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz of cooked spaghetti

grated pecorino romano

Directions

- In a heavy saucepan, cook bacon until its well done and crispy. Remove and drain. Crumble.

- Pour off all but one tablespoon of bacon goodness and place pot back on low heat

- Add garlic and stir, 1 minute

- Add onions and stir, scraping up the nice brown bits, 5 minutes

- Add 1 cup of white wine (the 2nd cup is yours to drink), red pepper, marjoram, oregano, and parsley and let reduce (about 5 minutes)

- Add tomatoes and let simmer for 30 minutes

- Working in batches, puree the sauce in a blender

- Return to pot and let simmer for another 30 minutes

- Serve over spaghetti and top with grated romano cheese and some crumbled bacon.