What is your comfort zone? Is it time alone with a book? Jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet? The smell of green grass and lilacs? Eating pasta and salad, naked, in your backyard with a glass of wine? (Just asking.)
Comfort is not a “one size fits all” commodity. We find it where we find it, and it’s unique to each of us. A blanket, a song, a movie you’ve seen 32 times. The familiar is comfortable.
I like routine. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want my life to be completely static, but familiarity brings me comfort. I wake up, feed my cats, have toast, shower….get ready for my day. Sunday dinner has become just as much a part of my week as that daily cup of coffee or morning kiss from my husband. Without it….I’m “off”.
We are under Shelter In Place orders (the acronym SIP being ironically apropos considering the uptick in alcohol consumption around the state). Wash your hands thoroughly and often, maintain a distance of at least 6 feet at least between persons not in your immediate family, don’t go out except for exercise and necessities, etc. While planning our spring gardens, a friend and I realized we were choreographing an odd little dance while touring each other’s yards. (“Step, two, three. Bob, two three. Too close, two three”).
So how does one continue with Sunday Dinner, when we are under orders not to leave our homes? Virtually, my friends….Virtually.
Tonight we “came together” on laptops and phones, dialing into the Zoom meeting room we’d set up to chat, eat, share a glass of wine, and keep the bonds that we have formed, strong. It was a little odd at first—can’t hear that one, computer audio doesn’t work, wait…where did he go? He was on video just a second ago!
Tonight’s dinner theme was “Comfort Food.” We had roast chicken, chicken pot pie, mushroom pasta carbonara and, for my husband and I, comfort was spaghetti and meatballs.
And then, as is often the case with Sunday dinners, something magical happened. It became….normal. Better than normal in fact. Zoom gave us the opportunity to peek a little deeper into everyone’s daily lives. We got to meet Leia, a sweet pit bull who gets so anxious with strangers that she’s not allowed downstairs when we visit. Joya showed us lovely corners of her garden, Mary and Everett called in from their car en route back to town from a hike, and Kris kept us in stitches by regularly leaving the camera to admonish her cat, “Don’t you pee on that! Don’t you PEE on THAT!”
These dear people came together for laughter, a glass of wine, and a meal. But mostly, we came together for comfort.
Nothing is as it was. For the first time in my life I’m not confident where I can go, whether it’s okay to let the cleaning lady come into my house, or if there will be flour, beans or rice on the store shelves when I go shopping.
We will return to normal, but it will be a new normal. And that’s okay….we have each other. That’s all the comfort you need.
Keep calm, and wash your hands.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Equipment
- 10 or 11 inch sauté pan
- Medium small ice cream scoop
- Large pot
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 slices good-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed and slices torn or cut into small pieces
- ½ cup cup buttermilk or 6 tablespoons plain yogurt thinned with 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 pound ground meat, preferably ¾ pound ground chuck and ¼ pound ground pork
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese the stuff in the green bottle works just fine
- 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 small garlic clove, minced fine or pressed through a garlic press
- ¾ tsp salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1 – 1½ cups vegetable oil for pan frying
Smooth Tomato Sauce
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove, minced fine or pressed through a garlic press
- 1 28 – oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tbsp minced fresh basil leaves In a pinch, the basil in a tube works fine, but fresh is definitely better.
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 lb spaghetti noodles
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
Meatballs
- Combine the bread and buttermilk in a small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes, mashing occasionally with a fork, until a smooth paste forms.
- Place the ground meat, cheese, parsley, egg yolk, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Add the bread-milk mixture and combine until evenly mixed.
- Shape 3 tablespoons of the mixture into a 1 ½-inch round meatball, or use the ice cream scoop to form the balls. (When forming meatballs, use a light touch. if you compact the meatballs too much, they can become dense and hard.). This should get you about 14 meatballs.
- Pour the vegetable oil into a 10 or 11 inch sate pan to a depth of ¼ inch. Turn the heat to medium-high. After several minutes, test the oil with the edge of a meatball. When the oil sizzles, add the meatballs in a single layer.
- Fry, turning several times, until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Regulate the heat as needed to keep the oil sizzling but not smoking. Transfer the browned meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
- Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to a rolling boil in a large pot.
Tomato sauce
- Discard the oil in the pan, but leave behind any browned bits. Add the olive oil and garlic and sauté, scraping up the browned bits, just until the garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the basil and salt and pepper to taste. Add the meatballs and simmer, turning them occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Keep warm over low heat.
- Add 1 tbsp salt and the pasta to the boiling water and stir to separate the noodles. Cook until al denote, drain (do not rinse!), and return to the pot. Ladle several large spoonfuls of the sauce (without meatballs) over the spaghetti and toss until the noodles are well coated. Divide the pasta among individual bowls and top each with a little more tomato sauce and 2 or 3 meatballs. Serve immediately, passing the cheese separately.