Bad day=spaghetti and meat sauce….
So, today was horrible. I had a guest at the restaurant yell at me about absolutely nothing. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, it went on for over 15 minutes and the servers AND TABLES all around me heard…and they all had nothing but pity for me and recognized that it wasn’t my fault.
After two amazing happy hour-priced cocktails at Savoy with my fantastic co-worker Anna, I was ready to head home and make some dinner. It’s still in the works, but here was the plan: comforting Italian like my mom would have made (note: my mom is German, but still makes some mean Italian dishes). I swung by Whole Foods—only because it was too late for Essex Market—and picked up the ONLY things I needed: meat, garlic, olives, brie, baguette and a “Gourmet Blend” of mushrooms, which has baby bellas, shitake and oyster mushrooms. Sweet.
Get home, pour myself some Chablis and look around the fridge….my onion is moldy. That’s fine…just need to use more garlic. Open the pantry…no spaghetti! Text my husband to grab some on the way home. Check. Put a giant pot of boiling water on to get going and start chopping my garlic.
I made about one cup of finely diced garlic, then roughly chopped the entire package of mushrooms, which resulted in about 2-3 cups when chopped. I started about 2 tbsp olive oil in a heavy pan, added the garlic and sauteed till just before it browned, 3-4 minutes. Then I threw in the mushrooms after turning the heat down to about medium-low. I like to cook my mushrooms until they give up their juice, about 5 minutes at that temp. Time to add the meat!
I love ground meat. I know it’s not the best choice health-wise…the less processed your meat is, the better. Regardless, I picked up just under a pound of 85/15 ground beef at Whole Foods (I love me some antibiotic-free meat!) and added that to my simmering garlic and mushrooms. I cooked all this till my meat was browned, about 5 minutes, then drained the meat of all the grease. I added a little white wine (the Chablis I was drinking, about half a cup) and some dried rosemary, thyme and oregano, along with about 3/4 cup of tomato puree I had made last week (canned plum tomatoes with the sauce they came in, blended in my awesome blender). Turn the heat up to high till the sauce bubbles, let it go for about 2-3 minutes, then turn in down to medium low heat. I added some more chopped garlic that I didn’t need for my garlic bread, then just let the sauce simmer. It was looking a little low, so I threw in some Classico Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce.
I have a bit of an issue using store-bought tomato sauce when I have just taken the time to develop flavor in my own, homemade sauce, but in a pinch, it works.
Okay—sauce is simmering, throw in the angel hair pasta for about 3-4 minutes, and now it’s time to make the garlic bread! My mom rarely ever made garlic bread at home, but I got a baguette and brie as an app for when my hubby walked in the door from work, so I figured, why not make a little bit. I cut about 8 inches of bread from the loaf, then sliced in along the width of the bread, as if I was to make a sandwich. I spread some butter and olive oil on the inside of the bread, then sprinkled some freshly chopped garlic all over each side, along with some salt, Italian seasoning and dried garlic. I closed up the bread, wrapped it in tin foil and put it in my toaster over for about 5 minutes on “bake.”
Put my bowl plates on the stove top to warm up, set the table, poured a little more wine for myself and my husband, then got ready to eat. I always let my husband serve himself first. He goes for more pasta and less sauce, and I’m the opposite. I whipped out the garlic bread, threw it on a cutting board and cut it into pieces. A little heavy on the salt (oops) but otherwise really good. The sauce was AWESOME. Could have been a little saucier—maybe add some more white wine and tomato puree next time. I also top all Italian food, and all my pizza, with a healthy dose of grated Parmesan cheese. I think it makes everything better:)
Overall, we had a GREAT dinner, and it was exactly what I needed after a day like today. Now it’s time to watch a little TV and get ready to face more psycho-patrons tomorrow. Oy vey.
