Tiny Bits of Treasure # 3 | The Comfort (and Joys) of Burro D’Oro
A funny thing happens when I’ve had enough sleep and exercise and my house is fairly tidy – I feel like tinkering in the kitchen.
Pre-Covid, I cooked and baked all the time. When my boys were small, I made a family food management system for myself that enabled me to create seasonal, monthly menus with all of our favorite foods and I relied very heavily on it. It helped establish dishes that my family craves and enjoys, and allowed me to stretch myself and experiment with recipes and techniques when I had extra time, but still deliver a balanced and tasty meal when I didn’t.
When the lockdown first started in March 2020, my meal planner was excellent. I never cooked and baked more than those first few months. I made yeast donuts on Easter Sunday for Pete’s sake! I had never made yeast donuts before in my life, because prior to lockdown, Uncle Benny’s donut shop was three blocks away and you just don’t compete with perfection.
When we were so very isolated, I took pleasure in creating comfort foods for my family.
But then our isolation continued, and continued, and I burned out. By the time my boys went back to the classroom, they had been home for 666 days. And our family meal plans pretty much consisted of prepared stuff from Costco + broccoli.
I’ve written before about how 2016 was a terribly hard year for our family, and 2022 was the runner up. That’s a story for another day, but I will say that now, two years out from those roughest of rough patches, I feel like my pre-pandemic brain is turning back on. I have desires and energies I haven’t felt in a long while. Not only do I feel like playing in the kitchen, but my food management system is back, and so are the dishes that brought us so much comfort and joy in the past.
One such meal is spaghetti and meatballs – a classic, for sure.
Is there anything more cozy than a big bowl of sauce-slathered noodles and bite-sized morsels of savory meatballs? I think not. Well, maybe milky tea and chocolate covered Digestives. But for a proper dinner, one containing macro nutrients to aid the growth of growing boys, spaghetti and meatballs is where it’s at.
I’ll be honest, I think making meatballs is a pain in the ass, much like how I think making chocolate chip cookies is a pain in the ass. Basically, anytime I have to scoop out tiny amounts of a mixture over and over again I’m already annoyed with myself. Halfway through I start thinking, you know? Slicing sausages is so much easier, baking chocolate chip cookie bars is so much easier, why did I opt for this path?
But sometimes, the repetitive act is relaxing, and the end result is highly rewarding. If I’m being truthful, however? I buy premade meatballs in the freezer section and call it good.
Something that it always worth making myself is “my” spaghetti sauce. I say “my” because it’s not at all mine. It’s basically Marcella Hazan’s three-ingredient spaghetti sauce, with a few tweaks.
For “My Version of Marcella’s Sauce” I use:
3 14oz cans of chopped tomatoes with their juice
1 big or 2 small yellow onions, peeled and cut in half
1 stick of salted butter, sliced into 4 or 5 chunks
1 tablespoon of sugar
Salt to taste
Note: Yes, sugar. Look, Marcella’s recipes are generally awesome but when I lived in Italy, my boyfriend at the time’s mom taught me how to make her sauce, “Sandra’s sugo,” and she told me that all Italians add equal parts sugar and salt to tomato sauce to cut the acidity and bring out the flavors. I don’t argue with Mamma Sandra and neither should you.
I put all the ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil, then I simmer on low for 30-45 minutes, or more, if I have time, while I get the rest of dinner ready.
And by the rest of dinner I mean cook whatever meat you’re having, if you’re having meat, prep an extra veggie (we like roasted broccoli), and grate your cheese.
A note about pasta. For that sauce recipe, I cook a pound of spaghetti in rapidly boiling, heavily-salted water. I reserve a half cup of the spaghetti water before draining the pasta, and cut 1-2 minutes off my pasta’s cooking time.
For example, if your spaghetti says 10 minutes for al dente, reserve some of the cooking water and then drain it at the 8/9 minute mark. Trust me.
I then put the spaghetti back in the pot (with a little butter or if it needs to hang out while I finish the sauce).
To complete the sauce, I pull the onion bits out, then using my immersion blender, I blend the sauce until it’s pretty creamy. I pour the sauce all over the spaghetti with about a quarter cup of the reserved pasta water, adding more water if the sauce looks too thick. I turn the heat under the pan to medium, and toss it all together. The starchy water will help the sauce adhere to the noodles as it warms up together. Cooking for a few minutes this way will ensure your spaghetti is al dente and perfectly coated in this amazing sauce.
Then I stir in hot meatballs or sliced sausages that have been cooking or reheating in the oven as the broccoli roasts, if we’re having broccoli. Sometimes I decide that tomatoes are enough to check the fruit/veggie box on the meal and call it good.
We pass around grated cheese. We spin our forks in the noodles. We don’t even think twice about the amount of butter in the dish. We usually have two full adult meal portions left after all four of us had our fill.
It’s comforting, it’s cozy. It’s basically just butter and tomatoes, or as the Italians say, “burro d’oro,” but it’s something to look forward to enjoying together. Even when it’s busy. And especially when it’s not.
You should make this.