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Spaghetti and Meatballs: My Most-Requested Meal
From a coworker’s kitchen to my husband’s heart — the recipe that shaped a lifetime.
Is there anything more indulgent than a thick, rich, tomato-y spaghetti sauce studded with slivers of sweet garlic and flecks of fragrant basil?
Or perhaps you favor the meatballs — plump, juicy orbs of salty-spicy meat, dense enough to hold their shape but tender enough to cut with the side of a fork (no knife required!).
And some people are rapturous when given a perfectly cooked plate of pasta; transcendent pasta is not mushy or sticky. Our best plate of spaghetti boasts individual toothsome strands enrobed with rich sauce; it’s sturdy enough to support hearty meatballs but delicate enough not to overshadow a light shower of shredded Parmesan.
Are you getting hungry yet? I can tell you how to create the perfect plate of spaghetti and meatballs, but it’s not a prized recipe from my Italian nana or lovingly crafted by my mom.
The Dinner Invitation That Rewrote My Recipe Book
Sometime in the early 1970s, in my first full-time job (and away from home), a co-worker invited me to her house for dinner.
