Venturing into sacred ground....
There are a handful of meals from my childhood that made such an impact on me, that I can salivate just thinking about them. My mother was a very good cook and from her arsenal Armando Salad, Lasagna and Chicken Enchiladas were my tip top favorites, and I continue her tradition and make these often to hand down the greatness to my son.
My grandmother had an event that she called zesty spaghetti sauce!!!!!!!!!
She would cook and nurse her sauce all day long, and it is unlike any other sauce you will ever try.
She made it VERY spicy with LOTS of crushed red pepper. Back then, kids ate what the adults were having....nuff said, no complaining, or you didn't eat. So I ate this fire hot spaghetti and after a while, I LOVED it!!!
In my family we did something I have never even heard of since....
we would put mayonnaise on spaghetti! Sounds gross...actually I needed it cause it helped douse some of the flames from the red pepper. FYI-we NO LONGER do this, but it is some fun memories.
So having said that....last night was Italian night so after searching for something cool to make, I settled upon my Gaga's spaghetti. I'm not going to fully give away the recipe because it is an ancient Conrad secret, but here is the reader's digest version.
I fried a pork steak with lots of spices, then started layering tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, mushrooms and LOTS of fresh herbs from my garden (original recipe used dried, but I had the same things in the ground so what the hey). After the pork had a crispy crust on it, I sliced it and threw it in. This was all at 9 in the morning, cause the genius is in the fact it simmers all day.
I omitted the crushed red pepper (Zachary is fighting his Texas heritage by not liking spicy foods-which is weird cause he loves chips and salsa at mexican restaurants), but added a dash of sriracha sauce cause I needed some kind of spice.
Well, I think I was successful, even though Zach started balking once we started talking about the spice, but he did eat quite well. He loves broccolini so that helped too.
I have to say, for the benefit of the few people who will read this that have actually had this made by my grandmother, that I totally missed the heat!!!! I was going to add it to just my portion, but alas....we were out of crushed red pepper. Also, there was no chance of me putting mayo on it!!!!!!
My grandmother had an event that she called zesty spaghetti sauce!!!!!!!!!
She would cook and nurse her sauce all day long, and it is unlike any other sauce you will ever try.
She made it VERY spicy with LOTS of crushed red pepper. Back then, kids ate what the adults were having....nuff said, no complaining, or you didn't eat. So I ate this fire hot spaghetti and after a while, I LOVED it!!!
In my family we did something I have never even heard of since....
we would put mayonnaise on spaghetti! Sounds gross...actually I needed it cause it helped douse some of the flames from the red pepper. FYI-we NO LONGER do this, but it is some fun memories.
So having said that....last night was Italian night so after searching for something cool to make, I settled upon my Gaga's spaghetti. I'm not going to fully give away the recipe because it is an ancient Conrad secret, but here is the reader's digest version.
I fried a pork steak with lots of spices, then started layering tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, mushrooms and LOTS of fresh herbs from my garden (original recipe used dried, but I had the same things in the ground so what the hey). After the pork had a crispy crust on it, I sliced it and threw it in. This was all at 9 in the morning, cause the genius is in the fact it simmers all day.
I omitted the crushed red pepper (Zachary is fighting his Texas heritage by not liking spicy foods-which is weird cause he loves chips and salsa at mexican restaurants), but added a dash of sriracha sauce cause I needed some kind of spice.
Well, I think I was successful, even though Zach started balking once we started talking about the spice, but he did eat quite well. He loves broccolini so that helped too.
I have to say, for the benefit of the few people who will read this that have actually had this made by my grandmother, that I totally missed the heat!!!! I was going to add it to just my portion, but alas....we were out of crushed red pepper. Also, there was no chance of me putting mayo on it!!!!!!
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