Cookbooks du Jour

A couple weeks ago, my school held a Spring Fair where they had "New To You" sales where rich people get rid of things that even their maids don't want. But sometimes, you find incredible deals that you thank your lucky stars for. Every year, I make the beeline for the books. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the book sale. I have gotten awesome bestsellers and cookbooks for something like a loonie or twoonie each. Since I am leaving for Hong Kong, I needed to totally restrain myself and took $10 to the sale and hoped for the best. Just to give you another insight into what kind of a person I am, this is what I did: piled all the books I wanted to buy, and lugged it to the checkout counter and decide there what is a keeper and what is not if the total exceeds the money I brought.

I think I had 8 books with me, and I told the sweet parent volunteer there about my $10 strategy. She counted up the books, and decided the total was $10, smiled and said, "its okay, you are a teacher, you deserve a discount."

One of my favourite purchase is "Nigella Bites". I love that frivolous way she throws sauces together and dips her fingers into bowls of trifle. One recipe in particular caught my eye:

Rainy day food: Spaghetti and meatballs "the Nigella Way" where everything bubbles away in one pot.

So here is my version of what to do:

While you cook enough spaghetti for 4-6 people, put all this in a bowl and mix them:

-500 g ground meat (I used turkey but mixtures of ground pork sausage with beef is good too)
-1 egg
-1 tbsp of chopped parsley
-1 chopped clove of garlic
-3 tbsp of bread crumb with 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese
( I used crushed gorgonzola biscuits from my last trip to Target)
- salt and pepper

Roll these into little teaspoon sized portions and put in fridge while:

On the stove, fry:
-one chopped onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic in 1 tbsp butter in a pot.
-Add 1 bottle (700 ml) of strained tomatoes into a pot. Fill 1/2 the bottle with water, close lid and shake around to get all the sauce that's is sticking to the bottle. Add to the pot. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
-Add 1/4 C whole milk

Stir in 1/4 whole milk and add meatballs in one by one. Make sure they have enough room so they don't stick together.

Simmer everything for 20 minutes with lid partly on or put a splatter guard on.

Test to make sure the meatball is done and adjust seasoning of the sauce as needed.

Pour half the sauce into a bowl and throw in the spaghetti into the pot with the remaining sauce and meatballs. Serve the dish with the extra sauce, parmesan cheese and chili flakes for whoever wants it.

Cheers!