Pulled out my inner Strega Nona today and made spoghet & mini-meatballs!
Like I've done before, using freshly chopped herbs elevates the dish to the next level -- the last time I did with smashing success, I used flat leaf parsley and basil -- the only difference this time is that I used a new knife skill - chiffonade - to add freshly plucked, washed organically, home-grown basil from the garden. At first, I thought, oh woe is me, when I started to see the mother basil plant start to flower and the leaves turn narrow and bitter, but today, as I looked down, I saw some broad flat leaves on a couple of the stems hanging out and plucked those instead. They were perhaps a bit hardier than the ones you might typically find in a store (those leaves are more delicate, and thin and fresh), but chiffonading them, and adding it as a last topped garnish REALLY adds flavor to the meat and gives it that extra oomph -- it has to be added at the end.
I used a canned tomato sauce -- at first it looks like a completely unappetizing, gelatinous blob -- but I made do by adding herbs, spices, salt, freshly cracked black pepper and bits of meat for flavor -- if only I had olive oil and shredded parm reggiano!! Those two ingredients would really make for the rest of the dish...
I simmered the sauce on low to let it soak the flavors ... eventually it got reduced to almost a tomato-like paste, which is great because it can be reconstituted into a glossy sauce, which I did for my second serving, and the sauce looked beauuuutifully amazing and high-vibrational that time around.
I made small Swedish-size meatballs the first time around, and even mini-ier meatballs the second time around-- I will stick with the Swedish-size because that seems to be better tasting and gives a healthier mouthfeel and appreciation for the actual meat itself.
The really mini-meatballs felt too skimpy. They were cute in presentation, though.
I will have to try the baking soda plus acid trick again at some point to see if it gets the pasta tasting more noodly in texture.
Got a lemon and lime tree somewhere, maybe I shall try to see if I can propagate one of each of their branches to multiply the chances of bearing fruit,
instructional vid here:
Seems simple enough! How hard could it be? (she said as she lay down in fatigue.)
Accompanying Song: Té De Piña by Bruses
I just discovered them on my feed! Oh their sound is amazing! They're from Mexico City and I'm immediately thinking "goth opera meets Wednesday Addams accompanied by mimes" (I hope that's not offensive to the band).
I remember when I was a teen and the first CD album I ever bought was by Panic! At The Disco. They also had this theatrical mime thing going on as well, but the themes were more...salacious? But tongue-in-cheek, I suppose -- it felt like a sarcastic, satirizing artistic exploration of different things, like religion, sexuality, back then...
That sentence really dated me, didn't it.
Hum...
I'm craving Indian food so much.
The restaurant kind.
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