Spaghetti and Meatballs

[user328]

Sauce:

In a 3 qt. pot, saute a chopped onion and a chopped large clove of garlic in olive oil.

When soft, add oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Just a pinch of cayenne. Simmer awhile.

Add a can of diced tomatoes and a large can of tomato sauce. Simmer awhile.

Meatballs:

Mix 1/2 lb. mild breakfast sausage, 1/2 lb. ground beef, Panko breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, salt, and pepper.

Use a small ice cream scoop to form balls. Brown in skillet, then add to sauce pot. Simmer awhile.

Pasta:

Do not add oil when cooking, as it prevents the sauce from sticking to the pasta.

[Mister Obvious]

I kinda wanna make an alfredo version of spaghetti and meatballs.

Usually we think of chicken being the only appropriate meat to have in alfredo, but I wanna try something different.

Do not add oil when cooking, as it prevents the sauce from sticking to the pasta.

Oh wow... never heard this before, makes sense.

[user328]

Alfredo: milk, butter, ricotta cheese, black pepper

[user328]

Cooking pork or beef in alfredo is likely to add a lot of oil to the sauce. It might make it difficult to blend to a creamy texture.

[Mister Obvious]

Fuuuuckkkkk it all sounds so good.

[user328]

I was concerned that the tomato sauce would blacken my stainless steel pot, but it didn't. I scorched the sauce slightly, and it still cleaned up easily. The vermicelli didn't even stick to the stainless steel stock pot when I boiled it without oil. So you can add stainless steel to cast iron as a desirable choice of cooking pots.

[user328]

I should note that I used a bamboo spoon for all of this. If you use metal utensils and scratch the shiny smooth steel, that's when you'll start having problems.

[Mister Obvious]

I wooden spoons.

[Mister Obvious]

I have a collection of wooden utensils ranging from large to small in size, and my favorite ones are the littler ones.

I have wooden tongs too, they look like giant wooden tweezers.

[user328]

I get a lot of utensils in sets of three - small, medium, and large. I tend to use the small ones the most.