I began by making the meatballs. Ground beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, an egg, a little water, salt and pepper, chopped basil from next door were all mixed by hand. I cooked one to see how it was - seemed good enough, so Serena helped rolling the rest. As long as they are made mostly out of meat, you can't really go wrong.
I made the sauce: about 15 or so of yesterday's Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped went in with a finely chopped onion and carrot, thinly sliced garlic, and a chopped shallot. Salt and pepper and two bayleaves, then cooked down for half an hour, at which point I used my handy hand blender on it until it looked like this.
Serena busied herself frying all the meatballs.
And in they go. Look how happy they are! Isn't that one doing the backstroke?
Some weird wiggly pasta I had left over.
Freshly grated parmesan.
Using fresh tomatoes in the sauce is noticeably different. Not necessarily better, mind, just ... different. I am well aware that I won't have an endless supply of cheap tomatoes for much longer - perhaps I should go out and buy a ton, and a load of mason jars, and put some sauce away so that one day, in the middle of winter when everything around me lies cold and empty and lifeless, I can sit in my chilly kitchen and crack open a little reminder that, yes, summer was here once and will be here again.
* * *
FOOD COSTS:
Ground beef $ 5.55
Eggs $ 2.99
Monday total $ 8.54
It looks so yummy and so close that I could almost taste it!! You are so cruel! Please buy another ton of tomatoes and take some pics please??
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