Mopick - Posted - 03/02/2011:  13:56:19

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I remember when I was in grade school we used to have spaghetti dinners to make money for the school. We would get five tickets to sell, I think it was like a dollar per ticket. You would get spaghetti and salad and bread and butter and a piece of cake for dessert. The school cooks would cook the spaghetti.

Spaghetti was always one of my favorite school lunches. On our school menu it would be listed as Italian spaghetti and I would always think....is there any other kind?

Randy

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Edited by - Mopick on 03/02/2011 14:29:23

dennis andrews - Posted - 03/02/2011:  14:05:29

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I being a vegetarian, am a common sewer of marinara sauce. Having done a hole lot of traveling in my past life, every place I stopped I would sample the spaghetti. I eat it like soup.

pandjlocke - Posted - 03/02/2011:  14:59:12

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Spaghetti was ALWAYS on the lunch menu, and not by coincidence according to the lunch lady, on worm dissecting day in Biology class. I always did like the lunch lady.

Spaghetti, done right, is on of my favorite meals. The sauce has to be homemade. With or without meat is fine by me, but the sauce has to have the perfect combination of onion, carrot, tomato, garlic, oregano, basil and red wine. To make it really special, add some fennel seed when sauteing the onion and carrot. It gives the sauce that "What is that?" reaction that makes it something special.

BConk - Posted - 03/02/2011:  16:55:40

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Both of my wife's parents were born in Italy - and though her family ate pasta and tomato sauce as part of every Sunday meal, it was hardly ever spaghetti.

More often it would be penne, ziti or some other form of "macaroni" like elbows or shells.

The sauce (they called it "the ragu") was made pretty simply with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs but it always had some type of meat cooked in it. Whether it was meatballs, sausage, pork shoulder or bracciole ("brah-JOLE" thin sliced beef rolled around a garlic and cheese pesto and tied into packets or skewered with toothpicks), this meat was separated from the ragu (which was served in a gravy boat) and served separately in a bowl on the table. You'd recombine meat and sauce over the pasta in a shallow bowl on top of your dinner plate.

After that the rest of the meal was served - roasted meats and potatoes, some green vegetable like broccoli di rapa sauteed in olive oil with garlic, salad, nuts, fruits, dessert...

Spaghetti - the pasta - wasn't eaten that often at all and when it was it was mostly tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh broccoli and grated Romano cheese for a light summer meal.

In my family - we ate piles of spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballsand we always had it as the one and only course in a meal - served with bread (a major faux pas in my wife's family and for many Italians). Neither of my parents were Italian - but we ate it several times a month all year around. My mom would cook a big pot of sauce with meatballs and serve it over spaghetti - only. We never had any other pasta served that way. Any other pasta, like ziti or penne, was reserved for baking in casseroles.

Now, in my household, even though my wife is pure Italian, cooking most of the Italian dishes we eat is generally my responsibility. We don't eat pasta and sauce that often as I'm a diabetic but a couple of times a year, I'll cook a nice ragu with handmade meatballs and fresh Italian sausage for my wife. I generally serve it over farfalle as it's so much easier to eat than spaghetti. Spaghetti is generally served tossed with fresh vegetables and olive oil with garlic in something my wife calls spaghetti aglia e olio (prounounced spaghetti ahl-ya ohl-ya)

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Edited by - BConk on 03/02/2011 16:58:38

mike gregory - Posted - 03/02/2011:  17:03:05

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There are various grades of spaghetti sauce: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You can get some pretty good stuff for a fistfull of dollars, and even better grade for a few dollars more.
Once upon a time in the west side of town, there was a nice place.

BigJohn67 - Posted - 03/02/2011:  17:18:07

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Love it.

inniepie - Posted - 03/02/2011:  17:45:53

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I love spaghetti westerns AND spaghetti dinners. Sadly my daughter doesn't like spaghetti so we don't eat it much here. My mother used to give me canned spaghetti and I've gotta admit that stuff was pretty bad, the sauce was ORANGE for goodness sake and my sister and I had it all over our mouths...

Coonskin - Posted - 03/02/2011:  18:59:14

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My roommate dropped me a bowl of spaghetti last night as a surprise! I was watching MASSACRE TIME...a Spaghetti western with Franco Nero! Two great tastes...

inniepie - Posted - 03/02/2011:  19:18:12

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quote:

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Originally posted by Coonskin

My roommate dropped me a bowl of spaghetti last night as a surprise! I was watching MASSACRE TIME...a Spaghetti western with Franco Nero! Two great tastes...

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What a lucky guy!

R Buck - Posted - 03/02/2011:  19:59:18

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I love spaghetti and Clint Eastwood, what can I say?

Brian T - Posted - 03/02/2011:  20:30:57

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I make my spag from flour & eggs. Fettuccine mostly. I like it better than store bought, except maybe for spaghettini.
There are some 800 words for pasta shapes, mostly regional and some 500 of those are various synonyms (this from
a landscape architect in Turin.)
I like to make "stained glass" pasta, with the herbs rolled right into the sheet before cutting.
I've used Atlas and Schule pasta machines, I like the Imperia machine the best. They are not expensive.
Make the dough, freeze it in lumps. Making your own pasta is simple, economical and (best of all) quick.

Micki - Posted - 03/02/2011:  20:48:36

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I detest Westerns, but I love baked spaghetti. Lean Cuisine ain't bad. Micki

gregsquared - Posted - 03/03/2011:  04:35:08

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quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

There are various grades of spaghetti sauce: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You can get some pretty good stuff for a fistfull of dollars, and even better grade for a few dollars more.
Once upon a time in the west side of town, there was a nice place.

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Mike, remember when your dad used to make spaghetti sauce out of Campbell's tomato soup and Heinz ketchup? As I reacall, it was quite tasty.... I'm experimenting with our cat, feeding her the same recipe to see if she develops a sense of humor akin to yours....

Mopick - Posted - 03/03/2011:  04:44:25

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quote:

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Originally posted by BConk

Both of my wife's parents were born in Italy - and though her family ate pasta and tomato sauce as part of every Sunday meal, it was hardly ever spaghetti.

More often it would be penne, ziti or some other form of "macaroni" like elbows or shells.

The sauce (they called it "the ragu") was made pretty simply with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs but it always had some type of meat cooked in it. Whether it was meatballs, sausage, pork shoulder or bracciole ("brah-JOLE" thin sliced beef rolled around a garlic and cheese pesto and tied into packets or skewered with toothpicks), this meat was separated from the ragu (which was served in a gravy boat) and served separately in a bowl on the table. You'd recombine meat and sauce over the pasta in a shallow bowl on top of your dinner plate.

After that the rest of the meal was served - roasted meats and potatoes, some green vegetable like broccoli di rapa sauteed in olive oil with garlic, salad, nuts, fruits, dessert...

Spaghetti - the pasta - wasn't eaten that often at all and when it was it was mostly tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh broccoli and grated Romano cheese for a light summer meal.

In my family - we ate piles of spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballsand we always had it as the one and only course in a meal - served with bread (a major faux pas in my wife's family and for many Italians). Neither of my parents were Italian - but we ate it several times a month all year around. My mom would cook a big pot of sauce with meatballs and serve it over spaghetti - only. We never had any other pasta served that way. Any other pasta, like ziti or penne, was reserved for baking in casseroles.

Now, in my household, even though my wife is pure Italian, cooking most of the Italian dishes we eat is generally my responsibility. We don't eat pasta and sauce that often as I'm a diabetic but a couple of times a year, I'll cook a nice ragu with handmade meatballs and fresh Italian sausage for my wife. I generally serve it over farfalle as it's so much easier to eat than spaghetti. Spaghetti is generally served tossed with fresh vegetables and olive oil with garlic in something my wife calls spaghetti aglia e olio (prounounced spaghetti ahl-ya ohl-ya)

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Brian, I'm surprised you don't make your own pasta from flour and cut on your own machine. But I love reading your posts. It makes me drool more than usual.

Randy

Mopick - Posted - 03/03/2011:  04:55:20

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quote:

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Originally posted by Brian T

I make my spag from flour & eggs. Fettuccine mostly. I like it better than store bought, except maybe for spaghettini.
There are some 800 words for pasta shapes, mostly regional and some 500 of those are various synonyms (this from
a landscape architect in Turin.)
I like to make "stained glass" pasta, with the herbs rolled right into the sheet before cutting.
I've used Atlas and Schule pasta machines, I like the Imperia machine the best. They are not expensive.
Make the dough, freeze it in lumps. Making your own pasta is simple, economical and (best of all) quick.

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Brian, I love reading your food posts also. My mouths watering even more. I'm ready to eat today after having my molar pulled on Tuesday.

Randy

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Edited by - Mopick on 03/03/2011 04:58:57

BConk - Posted - 03/03/2011:  05:06:28

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mopick

quote:

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Originally posted by BConk

Both of my wife's parents were born in Italy - and though her family ate pasta and tomato sauce as part of every Sunday meal, it was hardly ever spaghetti.

More often it would be penne, ziti or some other form of "macaroni" like elbows or shells.

The sauce (they called it "the ragu") was made pretty simply with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs but it always had some type of meat cooked in it. Whether it was meatballs, sausage, pork shoulder or bracciole ("brah-JOLE" thin sliced beef rolled around a garlic and cheese pesto and tied into packets or skewered with toothpicks), this meat was separated from the ragu (which was served in a gravy boat) and served separately in a bowl on the table. You'd recombine meat and sauce over the pasta in a shallow bowl on top of your dinner plate.

After that the rest of the meal was served - roasted meats and potatoes, some green vegetable like broccoli di rapa sauteed in olive oil with garlic, salad, nuts, fruits, dessert...

Spaghetti - the pasta - wasn't eaten that often at all and when it was it was mostly tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh broccoli and grated Romano cheese for a light summer meal.

In my family - we ate piles of spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballsand we always had it as the one and only course in a meal - served with bread (a major faux pas in my wife's family and for many Italians). Neither of my parents were Italian - but we ate it several times a month all year around. My mom would cook a big pot of sauce with meatballs and serve it over spaghetti - only. We never had any other pasta served that way. Any other pasta, like ziti or penne, was reserved for baking in casseroles.

Now, in my household, even though my wife is pure Italian, cooking most of the Italian dishes we eat is generally my responsibility. We don't eat pasta and sauce that often as I'm a diabetic but a couple of times a year, I'll cook a nice ragu with handmade meatballs and fresh Italian sausage for my wife. I generally serve it over farfalle as it's so much easier to eat than spaghetti. Spaghetti is generally served tossed with fresh vegetables and olive oil with garlic in something my wife calls spaghetti aglia e olio (prounounced spaghetti ahl-ya ohl-ya)

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Brian, I'm surprised you don't make your own pasta from flour and cut on your own machine. But I love reading your posts. It makes me drool more than usual.

Randy

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Thanks Randy - I bought an Italian hand crank pasta machine, but shortly afterwards I was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then we don't eat pasta that often and I've never used it.

Trewq36 - Posted - 03/03/2011:  07:42:38

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Oh darn, now I'm hungry and it's still an hour to lunch....

Curses.............

Miss my mothers sauce.. Although not Italian, she did grow up in an Italian neighbourhood. I've got her reciepe but just never seems to come out like hers did.

OK 50 minutes to lunch now...

dat - Posted - 03/03/2011:  08:40:08

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pesgetti sounds good, I sho am gettin hawn-gry

Brian T - Posted - 03/03/2011:  09:00:43

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I don't make & eat pasta as often as I did when I was learning how to make it.
Quite likely the novelty associated with getting it "right." Like making bread, there's some sort of
pleasurable Zen thing kneading the dough and rolling/cutting the sheets. There was the added satisfaction of figuring out why every recipe calls for far more flour than you can ever possibly mix with the liquid. Yes, there's a trick. Or at least, I found it so.

Since the raw dough freezes so well, it's just another of the complex carbohydrates to pick from.

I make all the bread, buns and baguettes that I need, the bread has some whole grain and
I have two thick slices with PB for breakfast and normally don't eat anything until the evening.
Rice: white, brown, basmati, brown basmati, several varieties of potatoes,

Most recently: quinoa, both the white and the red. I like the different, nutty taste. Just plain, thanks.
Don't want it all kakked up with sauce.

These days, the pasta seems to be a best choice with fowl. Then I get the chance to roll sage & other herbs or spices
into it. That really is a treat. Hardly ever make it plain anymore.

wrightedward - Posted - 03/03/2011:  09:54:27

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We will be having it for supper .
Eddie

Frebazak - Posted - 03/03/2011:  16:42:15

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Weird,... out in the cold blowing wind all day mending fences. Scetti sounded good and I made the sauce with everything... full boat,... including hot peppers and garlic toast. A big ole 7 n 7 to go with it.... More 7 than... 7.....ifin ya know what I mean...

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Edited by - Frebazak on 03/03/2011 16:43:16

ineoin - Posted - 03/03/2011:  19:01:41

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Now take a spaghetti western AND a spaghetti dinner together with some fine wine and that is a good way to spend an evening.