Sunday Dinner With Friends

We had some of our favorite people over for Sunday dinner. You wouldn't know it by looking at these pictures, but there were, in fact, some adults in attendance. 

Growing up, my mother prepared spaghetti with meat sauce. 

Every.  Sunday.

I say that half jokingly because back then I loved the tradition.  But my desire to rekindle it fizzled after only three weeks when my fondness for eating a favorite dish once a week crashed and burned.  Regardless, Ina Garten's Real Meatballs and Spaghetti is a recipe worth building a tradition around (even if it's just once a month).

I only deviate from Ina's recipe in that I do not use veal and instead prepare the meatballs with half pork and half beef.  These *balls* are great, so no loss there.

I love garlic bread - but only if it's homemade and made by me... in my house.  :)  Restaurants rarely do a good enough job, in my experience.  I shared a modified version of Ina's Garlic Bread (sorta) a while back.  Here is another garlic bread recipe that I use when I need something quick and easy.

Ready? (I hope my college roommate, Stephanie, is reading this because she taught me how to do this. And it's damn good.)

1. Take a stick of room temperature butter and mix it with minced garlic.  I'm thinking maybe three cloves.

2. Open your refrigerator and see if you can find some parsley. Chop some up - how much, I can't tell you. Just do it.

3. Throw in some dried herbs: rosemary, marjoram, whatever smells Italian to you on that day.  It's TOTALLY ok if your butter turns green from all the herbs.

4. Spread it on both sides of your favorite loaf - mine is ciabatta - sprinkle parmesan on top and broil until gold brown.

5. You won't regret any of this.

I served everything up family style which worked really well.  A double batch of the pasta recipe fed four adults and six kids, with leftovers.

I just love the way kids eat their noodles -slurp 'em, suck 'em or drop them into your mouth inch by inch.

For dessert I baked Rich Marble Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book.  Every recipe in this book has been a winner to date. (My all time favorite being her Banana Cake with Carmel Espresso Frosting which can be found right here.)

Comments

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It all looks so yummy. The garlic bread recipe is like the one your Dad makes, did he learn from you and your roomie? Your photos are phenomenal, particularly the ones with the soft focus in the background. Keep it up! A