Spaghetti

Jan 13, 2019

For as far back as I remember, we had a garden. Although my grandma had roses, my mom was not into flowers. She planted tomatoes and peppers and  green onions. She also had marigolds. They don’t  attract bugs and pretty much take care of themselves. I find they make you look like a gardener. Which, like my mom, I am not.
Back to spaghetti. When we harvested the tomatoes, mom made homemade chili, which she froze, and spaghetti sauce. I remember blanching the tomatoes to make peeling easier, cutting and crushing them and watching mom add the spices and slow simmer the sauce till it was ready to cool and put in containers for freezing.
She would make tons of meatballs and divide them up so that they could freeze in the sauce, gaining flavor and the richness of the sauce.
There was one problem that I didn’t know about till my mom died and I inherited her cookbooks. Mom didn’t use any spice in her sauce except garlic powder, salt and pepper. The recipe she used had oregano, basil and thyme in the sauce/meatball recipe.
I really don’t remember mom using any spice except salt, pepper and garlic. As far as herbs went, parsley was the flake of choice.
 Ow, My dad and I took gourmet cooking classes together and learned all about spices so I am comfortable with them. Dad and I talked cooking and food. We discussed many fancy and wonderful dishes.

But here’s the truth. I have made mom’s spaghetti with all the spices and it is a delicious and tasty recipe. But in my heart, I still remember the simply spiced, homemade sweet tomato sauce that mom made for us. That is the sauce worth writing about.