Something simple

Sometimes in life, it's the simple pleasures that are the nicest. And there is nothing more inherently simple than spaghetti and meatballs. You boil water, put in the pasta, cook the pasta, drain the pasta, cover with sauce, add meatballs and serve. Yes, I use jarred pasta sauce - don't judge. You know you do too!

The main course - linguine and meatballs

Last night I made up a really nice, simple pasta dish. Linguine with red sauce, homemade meatballs, and a caprese-style salad. The meatballs I made with meatball mix meat blend, and added in some salt, pepper, basil, oregano, allspice, and parmesan cheese as a binder. These were browned in a skillet until cooked all over, then simmered in a little water to finish them off. Sometimes I finish them in the oven, but this method seems to work out nicely as well.

Caprese Iceberg salad

The salad was made by tossing some iceberg lettuce with baby spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, bits of fresh mozzarella, and a basil chiffonade. A Chiffonade sounds super-fancy, but it is super easy. All you need to do is roll up the leaves into a tight bundle, and slice down the length of the leaves leaving yourself a nice-looking chop on your herbs. This was topped with a lovely robust Italian vinaigrette.